If I Had A Hall of Fame Ballot 2019 1/13/19

Hey baseball fans!

The 2019 Hall of Fame class will be announced in less than 10 days! As is customary on Baseball with Matt, in this post I will try to predict the members of this year's Hall of Fame class. My ballot would include the full ten hitters and pitchers allowed on any BBWAA ballot, but this post is just a prediction of who will get in this year. As a bonus, I will try to predict the percentages that each of the following players will get.

Player: Mariano Rivera
Percentage: 95%
Why? I talked about Mo in my last post, but there's no point in not mentioning him twice. Rivera is the all-time MLB leader in saves, totaling 652 saves during his career that was entirely with the Yankees. The Sandman made 13 All Star Games in 19 years and his 2.21 career ERA is not too shabby, either.

Player: Roy Halladay
Percentage: 83%
Why? Halladay was always been known as one of the hardest-working pitchers in the business, which can be attested to by many of his Blue Jays and Phillies teammates, coaches, and tons of other personalities in the baseball world. In that aspect, he definitely appeals to the BBWAA writers who vote. And his stats are pretty darn good, too. He's a two-time Cy Young Award recipient and an eight-time All Star. Oh, and did I mention that in his first ever career playoff start, he pitched a no-hitter?

Player: Edgar Martinez
Percentage: 77%
Why? It's a shame he won't get a larger percentage, but it's about time Edgar Martinez makes it into the Hall of Fame. And considering it's his last year on the BBWAA ballot, I think the voters will agree. Martinez was a seven-time All Star and five-time Silver Slugger during his 18-year career with the Seattle Mariners. He's a .312 lifetime batter, leading the league in batting average twice. But the main reason Martinez is deserving of the Hall of Fame is his pioneering as a DH. Only David Ortiz has matched the pure hitting skill from the DH spot in the lineup since Martinez's retirement and the award for the best DH every year is called the Edgar Martinez Award.

If I were to fill out an entire ballot, I would also include Todd Helton, Mike Mussina, Miguel Tejada, Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Michael Young, and Billy Wagner, but that's only because I get ten spots. Rivera, Halladay, and Martinez are the real deserving players for the 2019 Hall of Fame class. But what do you think? Who do you think is getting into the Hall this year? Thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back soon for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."