viewtopic.php?f=109&t=36477&p=631565#p631565
I don't put a deadline on getting your votes in, hopefully within a week, but please take the time to go through the candidates and make an informed vote by whatever your process is.
This year's ballot consists of seventeen players. Thirteen carryovers and four new nominees.
This is the final year on the ballot for Zheng-xin Wu .
Voting process and rules are as follows..
--You can PM me your ballot or post it here in this thread. Forum only allows for 10 poll options. Plus no way to track.
--No waiting period after retirement
--75% of all votes received will get a player in. 5% to carry over to next election, 10 seasons max.
--You can vote for zero to ten players, but please vote, even if it's a blank ballot.
The Ballot...
Blacked-out = Not on ballot, Greyed-Out includes that year's results.
The Breakdown..
Jeff Brady, 2B Steel City
Finished 9 SB's short of joining Hayden in 300/300 club and he was a member of 30/30 club 3 times, including 2028 when he played in only 111 games. 5-time All-Star broke onto the scene winning ROTY in 2024 and never looked back. Collected 1667 hits in 1479 games and had 66 career triples to go along with his 333 HR's.
Spoiler!
5-time All-Star was an RBI machine playing 3B. Only HOF'er Pat Johnson had more RBI's for a 3B in his career (1421 to 1341), but Cross played in 310 less games than Johnson. Hit for power (17th career in 2B's and 21st in HR's), had a career OBP of .373 and ranks in the Top 25 in VORP and WAR.
Spoiler!
Defense and speed highlighted the career of one of our pure 5-tool players in NDLB history. 5-time Gold Glove winner to go along with ranking 6th in career SB's. A career .287 hitter with 175 career HR's. Won two rings and was selected to 5 All-Star games.
Spoiler!
Another hitting machine makes the ballot. Franks was a career .316 hitter, good for 18th all-time, and a doubles factory over his career. Hit over 40 doubles 8 times in his career despite never playing more than 143 games in a season. Final tally of 514 is good for 8th all-time and he played in at least 500 games fewer than those in front of him on that list.
Spoiler!
Most career hits of any catcher in NDLB history, his 2053 hits ranks 27th all-time. 5-time All-Star led Omaha to their 2025 Championship, driving in 15 runs that post-season. Won a Gold Glove behind the plate as well. His HOF monitor score of 122.5 ranks 12th out of all batters that have appeared on ballot, only Jose Lopez failed to make HOF of those ahead of him. (Washington currently on ballot)
Spoiler!
Unheralded superstar, but looking at his numbers..wow. Started off with a bang, winning ROTY in 2021, banging out 226 hits (good for 11th best ever) his rookie season. He fell short of the "2000+hits/300+HRs/>.300avg/>.500SLG" club by 34 HR's. He could also man the outfield well, winning 2 gold gloves in his career to go along with 3 All-Star appearances and a championship.
Spoiler!
Silva was an offensive force behind the plate. Highest JAWS score of any catcher ever on our ballot, second in career OPS+ (115) behind only Manny Diaz (118), who played in just 645 games. Silva was selected to 4 All-Star games and won a Gold Glove.
Spoiler!
One of just 3 members of the 500-HR club, currently ranking 2nd with 561 dingers. Also drove in more than 1500 runs, one of just 6 batters to ever do that. Great eye at the plate too, ranking 5th in career walks. All this to go along with Top 10 ranks in OPS, runs, VORP, and WAR. Hit over 30 HR's in a season 12 times, including 5 40-HR seasons, a 50-HR season, and one of just 2 guys to hit 60 in a season. Washington's 162 game average of 40 HR's is topped only by Joe Telvest and Jaime Cruz of batters that have appeared on our ballot. His 2031 season is on the short-list of greatest season ever discussion when he batted .327 with an OBP of .430 and OPS of 1.109, while banging out 61 HR's and driving in 157 runs and scoring a record 152 runs that season. To my shock, Washington was only selected to 3 All-Star games in his career.
Spoiler!
Zheng-Xin Wu, RF/DH San Antonio (Hartford)
The man who almost broke the NDLB. .366 career average and a .458 career OBP are off the charts. Ranks 20th in VORP and 35th in WAR despite playing in only 995 games. Won ROTY in 2019 while batting .415, but playing in only 99 games. Followed that up with a .416/94-game campaign in 2020. The 6-time All-Star's health was a major concern and downfall as he played in 130+ games just 3 times in his career.
Spoiler!
Former Clemens award winner in the NCAA, threw a perfect game while at UCONN, and four times struck out more than 15 in a game. Never started a game after being drafted! Went on to become one of the most dominant relievers ever. Finished his career with 440 saves, 2nd all-time. 7 seasons of 40+ saves in his career. A career WHIP of 1.00(4th all-time) and ERA of 2.74 (6th all-time). 4-time All-Star and won 3 championships with the Cincinnati franchise.
Spoiler!
Etheridge was certainly an enigma throughout his career. He has given up the most HR's ever by a pitcher, his career ERA of 4.37 is the 3rd highest we have seen on the ballot. Surprisingly, the other two from the early years, Paul Bishop and Kurt Warner, were strikeout pitchers as well, but nowhere near Etheridge's caliber. One of just 6 pitchers to record 3,000 K's, he ranks 5th all-time with 3,056 K's. His K/9 rate of 10.1 puts him as just one of four starters in NDLB history (with at least 100 starts) to rate in double-digits, tied for 2nd behind only current Paul Bishop. 2030 was his greatest season, after enjoying arguably his best regular-season going 13-9 with a career-low ERA 3.63 ERA. Then preceded to just blow up in the playoffs. He won all 5 of his starts, posting a 1.43 ERA while striking out 49 in 37 innings. He most certainly would have won the Morris Trophy (if we still tracked that) as he led Philadelphia to their 2nd Championship in franchise history.
Spoiler!
Hart joins Alex Amaya as the only players in our league history to play from their teens into their forties. He split time as closer and middle reliever, recording 11 seasons of double-digit saves, while also recording 3 seasons of double-digit wins. He ranks tied for 2nd all-time for relievers with 1758 career strikeouts. His K/9 ranks 4th all-time while ranking 9th in career saves and 5th in games pitched.
Spoiler!
Despite winning 200 games (11th all-time) and having a great ERA of 3.33 (good for 19th all-time among starters), the 4-time All-Star and 2-time champion will most be remembered for his out of this world control. He only issued 194 career walks! To put that into perspective, Jorge Nava has dealt out 278 free passes the last 2 seasons alone. Of those 194 walks, 61 came in his first 2 seasons. The next 13 seasons, he only walked 133. Greg Maddux averaged a walk more per game than Moran did.
Spoiler!
Pacheco's 3.13 ERA and 1.10 WHIP are 4th and 3rd respectively for SP's that have appeared on our ballot. All while putting up 45 CG's in his career. His JAWS numbers are behind only McCarty and Ladd. He was enjoying a career year halfway through 2031 when he went down to injury and was never the same after that, but the 5-time All-Star did get to win a championship with Cincinnati as a RP in 2034.
Spoiler!
Stark finished his career with 183 career wins, good for 21st all-time, and a solid 3.88 ERA. Not known for being a strikeout pitcher, but did finish his career with over 2000 K's, ranking 41st all-time.
Spoiler!
I was shocked that no one actually officailly gave Thomas the nickname Cyborg. And I'd like to also point out that 2027 may be the greatest pitching season we ever see. 18-2 with an insane 1.34 ERA tops his own 2021 season of 18-2 with a 1.97 ERA. He won the Seaver both those years and somehow didn't in 2022 with a 17-2 record and 2.14 ERA. Guess that 18th win and keeping it below 2 are required for cyborgs to win the Seaver. Career ERA below 3 and career WHIP below 1, first we have seen from a SP on the ballot (Lehman and Esparza are in the wings though)
Spoiler!
Not a lot of people did it better or longer than Xin. Pitched in nearly 1200 games in his career (3rd all-time) and ranks 6th in career saves despite being a closer in only 9 of his 19 major league seasons.
Spoiler!
^^Career totals^^
^^test scores^^
A further breakdown of what the test scores entail could be found by clicking on the link.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/about ... sary.shtml
Ink tests measure leaderboard appearances. Standards score is 100 max, 50 is supposedly average HOF'er. Monitor score is suppose to tell likelihood of induction, not if deserved. 100 is very likely, 130 is a virtual cinch.
^^career ranks for batters &pitchers.^^
--Blue = top 10, green = top 25. Purple= Does not qualify for leaderboard; where they would rank.
--Era(s) is ranking of ERA out of the 428 starters with at least 100 career NDL starts
^^ Relievers don't have a Hall of Fame standards score, as they don't have any set standards, so I put up a chart of the 5 MLB relievers in the HOF and 3 most likely to get in at the end, if you wish to compare.^^
Spoiler!
-- A chart with the 162 game averages of the last 24 batters(including Griffey and Piazza) inducted in MLB HOF is in spoiler tag for comparison^^
never fail people.