Photo credit: RVR Photos-Imagn Images
Former Toronto Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado‘s case for the National Baseball Hall of Fame is heating up.
When Carlos Delgado was named to the 2026 Contemporary Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in Novemeber, it raised a lot of eyebrows for Blue Jays fans.
Delgado was just 17 when he began his professional career with the Blue Jays’ St. Catharines (Ontario) affiliate in the New York-Penn League.
He went homerless while hitting .180/.345/.236 in 31 games, but improved to .281/.382/.417 in 1990 while repeating the level as an 18-year-old, after which a member of the Blue Jays’ player development program told Baseball America, «He’s the No. 1 prospect in our whole organization.»
Delgado showed prodigious power as he climbed through the Jays organization, pounding 18 home runs for the team’s Myrtle Beach affiliate in his first year of full-season ball in 1991, then 30 homers (with a .324/.402/.579 line) at High-A Dunedin in 1992, and another 25 at Double-A Knoxville in 1993; he entered each of the latter two seasons ranked among the game’s top five prospects by Baseball America.
He made his major league debut on October 1, 1993, the Jays’ 160th game of the season, taking over from Randy Knorr behind the plate in the sixth inning and drawing a walk off Baltimore’s Todd Frohwirth in his only plate appearance.
He was left off the postseason roster, however, and while the Blue Jays beat the Phillies in the World Series to win their second straight title, they didn’t return to the postseason again during Delgado’s 12-season tenure in Toronto.
Delgado has similar numbers to other first ballot Hall of Famers
He played 17 seasons in the MLB, hit 473 home runs, had a .280/.383/.546 batting line in 2035, with 1109 walks and 1512 strikeouts. He had a 44.4 bWAR.
Delgado recieved MVP votes seven times, finishing as high as second. Had three Silver Slugger awards and played in two All-Star games. He also won the Roberto Clemente Award
Carlos Delgado has the most home runs among Puerto Rican-born players (473) and is the Blue Jays franchise leader in HR, RBI and total bases! Do you think he will be a Hall of Famer?
Carlos Delgado was one of the most feared sluggers of the late-1990s and 2000s
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69504630/72441577.0.jpg)
Carlos Delgado is on the 2026 Contemporary Era Player Ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame! Yonder Alonso makes the Cooperstown case for the man he calls the “most feared left-handed hitter of his generation.”That 2003 season for Delgado was historic, seeing a record, MLB-best 145 RBIs and 42 recorded homeruns.
Like his fellow candidates, Delgado elevated the game for his team and the organization of Major League Baseball.
Really hope Carlos Delgado gets some love on the Contemporary ballot for the Hall of Fame. .929 career OPS, 473 homers, robbed of the 2003 AL MVP. Deserves a long look and has a good case to be in the Hall
Carlos played 12 seasons with the Jays, before they let him leave as a free agent. He played a season with the Marlins and four more with the Mets.
