Which former Angels are up for the Hall of Fame and could any one of them make it?

The Angels have a litany of familiar faces on the Hall of Fame ballot, but not a lot of hope for them to actually make it to Cooperstown. The players in question: Francisco Rodríguez, Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu, Ian Kinsler, and Fernando Rodney. Of that group, the only newcomers to the ballot are Kinsler and Rodney.

Let's give Hall of Fame savant, Jay Jaffe, the floor to break down how the players got on the ballot:

To be eligible for election to the Hall of Fame via the BBWAA ballot, a candidate must have played in the majors for parts of 10 years (one game is sufficient to be counted as a year in this context), have been out of the majors for five years (the minors or foreign leagues don’t count), and then have been nominated by two members of the BBWAA’s six-member screening committee. Since the balloting is titled with respect to induction year, not the year of release, that means that this year’s newcomers last appeared in the majors in 2019.

Jaffe would go on to not mention any of the former Angels as making the Hall of Fame, let alone even make it to the next ballot. Ichiro Suzuki is a mortal lock who could be a unanimously voted entry, and Billy Wagner is likely to make it as well. The election results will be announced on January 21st.

Let's break down the Angels in question on the ballot.

Francisco Rodríguez

"K-Rod" had an incredible run with the Halos. The native Venezuelan had three top-four finishes in Cy Young voting in his seven-year Angels career. Again, a reliever finished in the top-four of Cy Young voting three times in a five year span. That is completely unheard of in today's game. He appeared in three All Star games for the Halos, and, of course, won a World Series in 2002 as a rookie.

Rodríguez was third to last in vote share in 2024, and is trending in the wrong direction.

Torii Hunter

Hunter is the only Angels player on the ballot to receive an increase vote share in 2024. He slated in at 6.9% in '23, and 7.3% in '24. Hunter is widely known as one of the best defensive outfielders ever, but was second to last in vote share last year (he out-gained David Wright). His 2009 season with LA was incredibly productive, as he made the All Star game, and won both a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger after the season. He won a Gold Glove in 2008, and made an All Star game in 2010 as well.

Hunter is still relevant today for the Angels, as he is a special assistant to Perry Minasian, and was moved down into the dugout during the 2024 season. He played 12 years for the Twins, but the Angels have really embraced Hunter in his post-playing career. The Angels rostered his son, Torii Hunter Jr., for years in their minor league system.

Ian Kinsler and Fernando Rodney

Kinsler played 91 total games for the Halos in 2018, before being traded over to the Red Sox during their World Series run in exchange for Ty Buttrey and Williams Jerez. Kinsler is the only member of these players to play with both Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.

Rodney played two seasons in Anaheim, from 2010-2011, then departed to the Rays and immediately posted a season where he was an All Star, finished fifth in Cy Young voting, and 13th in MVP voting. An Angels tradition.

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