Edgar Martinez is rocketing up the Hall of Fame ballot, boosted 13 years after his final swing by new-age statistical analyses and campaigning.
His percentage of the vote more than doubled from 2015 to last year, and he is projected to be around the 75 percent needed for election when this year’s voting is announced Wednesday. He could become only the second Hall of Famer who was primarily a designated hitter.
“I think it’s kind of like relief pitchers: Once the first couple started to get in, people had to accept the fact that they’re part of the game now,” said MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby, who voted for Martinez for the first time this year.
Martinez received 25.2 percent in 2014, when Frank Thomas became the first player elected after spending the majority of his career as a DH, a position instituted in 1973. Martinez rose to 27 percent the following year, 43.4 percent in 2016 and 58.6 percent last year. He is on 77 percent of the 226 ballots obtained by Ryan Thibodaux and posted on his Hall of Fame vote-tracker.
Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Vladimir Guerrero are likely to be overwhelming picks, and Trevor Hoffman could get in, too, after just missing last year.
Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are both tracking at 63.9 percent in the sixth ballot appearance for each. That is up about 4 percent from their vote-tracker percentage last year, when Clemens finished at 54.1 percent and Bonds at 53.8.
Martinez’s Hall chances have been aided Ryan M. Spaeder, a 28-year-old fan from Virginia who sent statistical analyses to about 250 voters. Martinez is making the ninth of the 10 appearances he is allowed on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.
A seven-time All-Star, Martinez was a designated hitter in 1,412 of 2,055 career regular-season games. He won two AL batting titles, earned seven All-Star selections and finished with a .312 average and 309 HRs.
Jones and Thome would raise to 54 the total of players elected in their first year of eligibility. An eight-time All-Star, Jones batted .303 with 2,726 hits and 468 home runs in 19 seasons with Atlanta. Thome was a five-time All-Star who hit 612 home runs, eighth on the career list, over 22 seasons.
Hoffman, who fell five votes short last year, is making his third appearances and is bidding to become only the sixth pitcher in the Hall who was primarily a reliever. Hoffman’s 601 saves trail only Mariano Rivera’s 652.
Guerrero, a nine-time All-Star, hit .318 with 449 homers and 1,496 RBIs in 16 big-league seasons.
Ronald Blum is an Associated Press writer.