3 former Phillies look to join the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time

The Philadelphia Phillies have three former players eligible to make the 2024 Hall of Fame ballot for the first time since leaving the playing field.

Chase Utley, Ryan Madson, and José Bautista will join a few other former Phillies who are still on the ballot trying to achieve that prestigious honor — Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, and Billy Wagner.

On Monday, the official ballot will be released, but ahead of that, let's take a look at the three Phillies who could potentially see their names appear.

José Bautista

José Bautista only spent part of one year with the Philadelphia Phillies, but he had a long, distinguished career after a bit of a rough start.

After being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 20th round of the 2000 Draft, he made his MLB debut in 2004 and was passed around between four teams that same year.

Across 15 years, the now-43-year-old made stops in eight different cities during his career — mostly as a right fielder and third baseman — spending parts of 10 seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, where he turned his career around.

From 2010 to 2015 with the Blue Jays, Bautista made six straight All-Star Games while also winning three Silver Slugger Awards and finishing in the top eight in American League MVP voting four of the six years. Overall, Bautista played in 1,798 games and was a career .247/.361/.475 hitter with 344 home runs, 975 RBI, 1,032 walks, and 1,394 strikeouts in 7,244 plate appearances.

In 27 games with the Phillies in 2018, he slashed .244/.404/.467 with two home runs, six RBI, 11 walks, and 15 strikeouts in 57 plate appearances.

According to Baseball Reference, Bautista has a 78 in the Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor, with any number under 100 meaning he's less likely to be inducted into the HOF, but his OPS+ of 124 is tied for 10th-best among eligible players for 2024.

Ryan Madson

Ryan Madson was selected by the Phillies in the ninth round of the 1998 draft and made his MLB debut in 2003, spending most of his career as a relief pitcher.

In nine years with the Phillies, the right-handed pitcher was 47-30 with 52 saves, a 3.59 ERA, and 547 strikeouts in 630 innings.

After taking over the closer role in 2011 for the Phillies on his way to 32 saves, Madson wasn't brought back in free agency. And after Tommy John surgery kept him out in 2012, followed by some failed trials with teams, he initially retired before making his comeback with the Kansas City Royals in 2015. In one year with the Royals, the now-43-year-old had an ERA of 2.13, a 197 ERA+, a 3.09 FIP, and a 0.963 WHIP in 63 1/3 innings.

From 2007 through 2017, a total of eight seasons played, the right-hander put up a 2.77 ERA, 84 saves, 140 walks, 488 strikeouts, 3.12 FIP, and 1.130 WHIP in 516 2/3 innings between four different teams.

In his full 13-year career, the pitcher was 61-48 with a 3.48 ERA, 775 punchouts, and 250 walks in 869 2/3 innings. In 57 postseason games, Madson had a 2.73 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 56 innings. As of now, his 57 appearances rank third-most of all time in postseason history among pitchers, behind only Mariano Rivera and Kenley Jansen, and his .857 winning percentage (6-1) in the playoffs is tied for fifth-best.

With a Hall of Fame Monitor mark of 41, it's not likely Madson will make the cut, though his 125 ERA+ is fourth-best among players potentially up for the ballot, while his 1.242 WHIP is third-best.