Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Eligible Players for 2025 Hall of Fame Class

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Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia lead a group of players who will find their names on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2025.

Suzuki is the only newly eligible player who will be a mortal lock next year, with Sabathia being the only other option worth consideration in the new crop.

The 2025 Hall of Fame outlook will be much the same as it was this year, when only Adrian Beltre was a surefire lock among first-time nominees. Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer were named Hall of Famers on Tuesday.

Reliever Billy Wagner (73.8 percent) and outfielders Andruw Jones (61.6 percent) and Carlos Beltran (57.1 percent) will be the leading returning vote-getters.

The cornerstone of next year’s class will be Suzuki, who helped revolutionize baseball and helped turn Japan into a hub of potential MLB superstars.

When Suzuki arrived in Seattle in 2001, he was already among the most renowned stars on the planet. He won three Pacific League MVPs, a Japan Series championship and won the Pacific League batting title in seven consecutive seasons.

While his resume in Japanese baseball was unmatched, some wondered whether his game would translate stateside. It did not take long for him to prove all of his doubters wrong. Suzuki made his first of 10 straight All-Star teams, won the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in 2001, leading the Mariners to an MLB record 116 wins in the regular season.

Four years later, Ichiro would set the record for hits in a single season (262). He would go on to play his first 11-plus seasons in Seattle, becoming a franchise icon, before a midseason trade to the New York Yankees in 2012. Despite being past his prime in his late 30s and early 40s, Suzuki played two-plus seasons in New York and then another three with the Miami Marlins before returning to the Mariners for short stints in 2018 and 2019.

Ichiro finished his MLB career with 3,089 hits, and it’s fair to wonder if he would have challenged Pete Rose’s all-time record if he would have spent his whole career stateside.

He may become the second player in history to receive unanimous induction, joining Mariano Rivera.

Sabathia’s first-ballot case is a little murkier. He finished with six All-Star appearances, one Cy Young and a World Series ring but spent most of the back half of his career as a solid but not spectacular pitcher. His ability to stay healthy and the fact he played on regular playoff teams in New York allowed to him to accumulate 251 wins (tied for 47th all time), and he’s one of 19 pitchers to ever top 3,000 strikeouts.

Sabathia will likely get into the Hall at some point, but he might struggle to get 75 percent support on his first ballot. The stickler nature of some voters will undoubtedly dock him for his mediocre back half of his career and wait to vote for him until his second or third time through the voting.