Three former Mets – David Wright, Jose Reyes and Bartolo Colon – are among the 12 first-timers on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2024 ballot.
Wright played his entire 14-year MLB career with the Mets, playing in 1,585 games. He posted a .296 batting average and .867 OPS (144 OPS+) with a 49.2 WAR. Wright was a seven-time All-Star who also won two Gold Gloves for his play at third base and won two Silver Slugger Awards.
Wright was the 38th player selected in the 2001 MLB Draft, a supplemental round selection because of the loss of Mike Hampton in free agency to Colorado. He would go on to become one of the most beloved players in franchise history and was the fourth captain in team history.
Reyes played 12 years over two stints (2003-11 and 2016-18) of his 16-year MLB career with the Queens club after they signed him out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old. The shortstop batted .283 with a .761 OPS (103 OPS+) and a 37.4 WAR in his career. He was a four-time All-Star in his first stint with the Mets and was the Silver Slugger winner in 2006 and NL batting champion in 2011.
Colon played just three years (2014-16) with the Mets in his 21-year career that also saw him pitch for Cleveland, Montreal, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angles, Boston, Yankees, Oakland, Atlanta, Minnesota and Texas.
The fan-favorite right-hander pitched to a 3.90 ERA in 588.2 innings over 98 appearances (95 starts) with the Mets. A four-time All-Star (once with the Mets in 2016 in his age-43 season) the right-hander was the 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner when he went 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA for the Angels.
The three are considered to be long shots to make it to Cooperstown.
The other new candidates on the ballot are Jose Bautista, Adrian Beltre, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Holliday, Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Brandon Phillips, James Shields and Chase Utley.
There are 14 returning candidates, who received at least five percent on the ballot last year but failed to achieve the 75 percent threshold needed for selection to the hall, including several other former Mets in Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield (final year on ballot) and Billy Wagner.
The other returning players are Mark Buehrle, Todd Helton, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Andy Pettitte, Manny Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, Alex Rodriguez and Omar Vizquel.
Scott Rolen was the lone candidate of 28 on the ballot last year to be selected to the Hall of Fame with 76.3 percent. Helton was the closest to selection in 2023 for those still on the ballot, appearing on 72.2 percent of ballots (281 votes).
Wagner was on 68.1 percent of ballots, Sheffield 55 percent, Beltran 46.5 percent, Abreu 15.4 percent and K-Rod 10.8 percent.
Voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America can vote for up to 10 players. Election results will be revealed on Jan. 23, 2024.