The Baseball Hall of Fame released the official ballot for the 2026 class of possible inductees, which includes prominent holdovers from 2025 who played for the Cleveland Guardians organization.
Among the holdovers are former Cleveland stars Omar Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glove shortstop who received 17.8% of votes last year, and slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez, who received 34.3% of the vote.
Among the first-time nominees joining those two on the ballot this year are two other players who also suited up for Cleveland at various stages of their MLB careers — outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who played seven years in Cleveland, and infielder/DH Edwin Encarnacion, who played two seasons in Cleveland.
Choo, a native of South Korea, hit 83 of his 218 career home runs in a Cleveland uniform. He finished 14th in the AL MVP voting for his 2010 season when he slashed .300/.401/.484 to go with 22 homers, 90 RBIs and 31 doubles. His WAR of 5.9 that season was a career-best mark.
Encarnacion, a native of the Dominican Republic, predominantly played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds in his MLB career. In two seasons for Cleveland, however, Encarnacion mashed 38 and 32 homers, respectively, while driving in 107 runs in each of those years. He finished 20th in the AL MVP voting for his 2017 season, spent primarily as a designated hitter. in Cleveland.
Here’s a look at all of the MLB players on the 2026 ballot.
Baseball Hall of Fame 2026 ballot
Here are the holdovers from 2025:
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OF Carlos Beltran (70.3%)
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OF Andruw Jones (66.2%)
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2B Chase Utley (39.8%)
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SS/3B Alex Rodriguez (37.1%)
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OF/DH Manny Ramirez (34.3%)
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SP Andy Pettitte (27.9%)
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SP Felix Hernandez (20.6%)
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OF Bobby Abreu (19.5%)
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SS Jimmy Rollins (18.0%)
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SS Omar Vizquel (17.8%)
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2B Dustin Pedroia (11.9%)
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SP Mark Buehrle (11.4%)
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RP Francisco Rodriguez (10.2%)
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3B David Wright (8.1%)
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OF Torii Hunter (5.1%)
And here are the first-time nominees joining the fray:
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OF Ryan Braun
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OF Matt Kemp
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SP Cole Hamels
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SP Rick Porcello
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IF Edwin Encarnacion
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3B/OF Alex Gordon
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OF Shin-Soo Choo
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OF Nick Markakis
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INF Howie Kendrick
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INF Daniel Murphy
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OF Hunter Pence
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SP Gio Gonzalez
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot features prominent Cleveland players
