Chasing Cooperstown: Checking in on Hall of Fame voting for Utley and other Phillies

The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) ballots to elect the 2024 MLB Hall of Fame class will be announced on Jan. 23, 2024, but some early votes are starting to enter the public sphere thanks to writers revealing their choices and Ryan Thibodaux’s (@NotMrTibbs on X) ballot tracking website already showing some early results.

The Phillies have three former players up for election in 2024, with Chase Utley appearing on his first ballot, Jimmy Rollins on his third, and Bobby Abreu now in his fifth year of Hall of Fame eligibility. While the 17 known ballots represent a small fraction of BBWAA writers, some promising trends are starting to emerge with less than two weeks remaining for the total vote. The deadline is Dec. 31.

Of the three former Phillies featured on this round of Hall of Fame ballots, Chase Utley appears to be doing well with early vote totals. The former franchise second baseman and 2008 World Champion currently leads all former Phillies with 58.8 percent of public and anonymous votes accounted for. With 75 percent of all votes needed to gain Hall of Fame induction, Utley looks to have a strong chance of making the Hall in the near future.

Utley's former double-play partner and fellow 2008 World Series champion Jimmy Rollins is a little further behind. A 2007 MVP, Rollins has earned two votes and sits at 11.8 percent of public and anonymous ballots as of the most recent update. With many more votes remaining, Rollins looks likely to miss out on election this time around but could add to his vote total on ballots later this decade. He previously had 8.7 percent of the vote in 2022 (1st year) and 12.5 in 2023.

Bobby Abreu is another former Phillies player who has received Hall of Fame support from BBWAA writers. Now on his fifth ballot, Abreu has earned five votes and sits at 29.4 percent of all currently known vote totals. Abreu played nine seasons in Philadelphia from 1998 until 2006 and previously earned 16.5 percent of the vote in 2023.

Who will make it to the Hall of Fame in 2024?

Chase Utley is the most likely of all former Phillies players if early voting is any indication of BBWAA voter trends so far, but a number of former All-Stars look to be headed to Cooperstown in 2024.

Leading with BBWAA writers in 2024 is first-year eligible Adrián Beltré, appearing on all 17 ballots (100 percent) of all public votes currently known. Todd Helton (6th year, 94.1 percent), Joe Mauer (1st year, 76.5 percent), former Phillies closer Billy Wagner (9th year, 76.5 percent), Andruw Jones (7th year, 70.6 percent), and Utley and Carlos Beltrán (2nd year) both currently even at 58.8 percent of known ballots.

It's fun to take a look at how Hall of Fame ballots develop this time of year, and it's not far-fetched to think we could be looking at Chase Utley occupying a place on the wall in Cooperstown, New York before long. Meanwhile, Utley finds himself busy promoting the game of baseball in England ahead of the Phillies vs. Mets series being played across the pond on June 8-9, 2024.

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