Felix Hernandez passes first obstacle in quest for Hall of Fame

Felix Hernandez still faces an extremely difficult path to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but at least he remains in contention.

No one is under any illusion about the size of the task facing Felix Hernandez, if he is to eventually make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, he is at least off to a positive start, having overcome the first obstacle which faced him.

Hernandez is in his first year of eligibility for enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and at the most can remain eligible for 10 attempts. One of the first rules for remaining on the ballot, is to receive votes from at least 5.0 percent of the ballots every year.

Well, as per BBHOFtracker.com, Seattle Mariners fans will be delighted to know that the six-time MLB All-Star has reached that 5.0 percent minimum requirement to remain on the ballot his first time around. At the time of writing, 86 ballots have been recorded (81 public and five anonymous), with the righty receiving 22 votes.

Safe this time around

As things stand, these 22 votes represent 25.6 percent of those received, out of a total of 388 ballots. Hernandez could receive literally no more votes, and his 22 would still represent 5.7 percent of the full 388, meaning he will remain on the ballot for at least another year.

Now we appreciate there may well be some, who ask why the 38-year-old would need another year on the ballot, given just how dominant he was during his career in Seattle with the Mariners. And certainly there were times when he was arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball.

Among other things, Hernandez won an AL Cy Young Award in 2010 and two ERA titles (one for the AL and the other for the Majors as a whole). His crowning glory was pitching just the 23rd perfect game in Major League history, in a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 15, 2012.

Felix Hernandez was a machine

Further, Hernandez was the very definition of durable during his career between 2005 and 2019. In that time, he was first among all Major League starters, with 96 starts of eight+ innings.

However, while the 2009 MLB wins leader’s peak was undoubtedly Hall of Fame worthy, critics contend said peak did not last long enough. In addition — and this is particularly unfair given that pitchers can only influence one of a every five games — that he never appeared in a single postseason game.

This doesn’t mean Mariners fans should give up all hope, with the possibility that voters will warm to the idea of Hernandez’s inclusion over time, a la Edgar Martinez. For his career, King Felix went 169-136 in 419 games — all but one being starts — in the process producing a 3.42 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 1.206 WHIP and 49.9 WAR.

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Bit more of a certainty

At the other end of the Baseball Hall of Fame spectrum for the Mariners, one player not expected to have any issue being voted in at his first attempt is Ichiro Suzuki. The only question is if he will receive votes on 100 percent of the ballots?

There’s no reason why Ichiro shouldn’t, but then there’s still the unforgivable situation when three undeserving voters — and sorry, but they are — didn’t vote for Ken Griffey Junior. There are plenty of theories as to why they didn’t, but none of them are justified, especially with the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera subsequently being the first to accomplish the feat.

In any event, we can confirm that Suzuki has received 100 percent of the votes on the 86 ballots revealed at the time of writing. Mariners fans everywhere will just have to hope that the other 302 voters have similar intentions, although at least it must be comforting to know he will soon be joining Griffey and Martinez in the Hall of Fame regardless.

All eligible BBWAA voters had until Dec. 31 to submit their ballots, and the results will be announced Jan. 21, live on the MLB Network. Players who receive 75 percent of the vote, will be enshrined during the 2025 Induction Ceremony on July 27.

How do you see this all playing out for Felix Hernandez? Do you predict he will eventually make it, or ultimately fall short of being enshrined? Let us know in the comments section below.