Categories: Phillies Nuggets with Tim Kelly

Will any former Phillies be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2021?

All Baseball Hall of Fame ballots have been filled out and postmarked, though we won’t learn who – if anyone – is in the class of 2021 until Jan. 26.

Curt Schilling is a Phillies Wall of Famer. (John Cordes/Icon Sportswire)

However, through Ryan Thibodaux’s ballot-tracking service, we continue to learn the results of ballots that voters have decided to make public. At the time of publication, 31.3% of ballots have been made

Six former Philadelphia Phillies – Shane Victorino, A.J. Burnett, Curt Schilling, Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu and Billy Wagner – are on this year’s ballot.

Of the six former Phillies, Schilling has received the highest total thus far at 72.6%. The 1993 NLCS MVP needs to get to 75% to be elected. This is his ninth of 10 years on the ballot, so the six-time All-Star is running out of time.

Schilling, a Phillies Wall of Famer, spent parts of nine seasons with the team, his largest chunk with any organization. However, given that he won three combined World Series titles with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox, it’s hardly a guarantee he would wear a Phillies cap on his plaque if elected. He could simply have a blank cap, like Roy Halladay and Mike Mussina.

We wrote earlier this cycle about how crucial of a year it was for for Rolen on the Hall of Fame ballot. To this point, the 1997 National League Rookie of the Year has seen a huge increase in his totals, as he’s already received 18 votes from returning voters who didn’t put a check by his name a year ago. Rolen, in his fourth year of Hall of Fame eligibility, has received 68.5% of the vote on all public ballots to this point. Rolen garnered 35.3% of the vote in 2020. One of the greatest defenders in the history of the position, Rolen has positioned himself to become a serious candidate for election in future cycles.

Wagner, excellent in his two seasons with the Phillies, has received 50% of votes on ballots that have been made public. Wagner, who is sixth in MLB history in saves, has gained 16 votes from returning voters. Now in his sixth season on the ballot, Wagner received 31.7% of the vote in 2020.

Abreu, one of the most prolific offensive players in franchise history, has struggled to gain as much traction as Rolen and Wagner, two of his former teammates. In his second year on the ballot, Abreu has garnered just 15.3% of votes to this point.

Victorino and Burnett, the two former Phillies on the ballot for the first time, have already been eliminated just based on the public ballots. Neither have received a vote to this point, and there aren’t enough remaining ballots for them to get the minimum of 5%.