Another mock Hall of Fame ballot: Do any former Atlanta Braves make it?
By James Kunkle
We are currently in the middle of a ton of Hall of Fame voters publicly releasing their votes for the 2020 vote. A few Atlanta Braves players are on the ballot
So we figured why not release one more mock one, especially with a couple of Atlanta Braves former players on the ballot.
Back in December, our own Alan Carpenter put out a piece explaining his Hall of fame voting and reasons behind his picks.
Also, a few weeks ago, our own Jake Mastroianni who also does some work with the Padres FanSided site, put out his own mock hall of fame ballot for the world to see.
I figured why not give my own with the reasoning behind my selections?
First off, let me say that I am the kind of voter who wants to keep the hall “small” and I usually don’t tend to vote for the borderline players.
To start off with, I’m gonna go ahead and eliminate the following 17 players from the pool of 32 eligible players on the ballot. While obviously all of them were good players, some of them simply have no shot at ever making the Hall of Fame.
The following will not even be under consideration from me-
- Bobby Abreu– I remember him being a good player, but not worthy of the hall of fame
- Josh Beckett
- Heath Bell
- Eric Chavez
- Adam Dunn– If pure power got you elected, Dunn would be a first-ballot entry
- Chone Figgins
- Rafael Furcal– Sorry, but I can’t let Atlanta Braves bias get in the way
- Jason Giambi– Injuries and steroids got in the way of a once possible Hall of Fame career
- Raul Ibanez
- Paul Konerko
- Cliff Lee
- Carlos Pena
- Brad Penny– Trying to figure out how he is even on the ballot to begin with?
- JJ Putz
- Brian Roberts
- Alfonso Soriano– For what it’s worth, I think in his prime, Alfonso Soriano was the best player on this list of players initially scratched off
- Jose Valverde
So more than half the players are already eliminated. Let’s now go ahead and get to the close but still a no category.