Torii Hunter, Dan Haren debut on baseball Hall of Fame ballot

The National Baseball Hall of Fame unveiled its ballot for 2021 election on Monday, with 11 newcomers among the 25 names available for election to baseball’s highest individual honor.

Torii Hunter and Dan Haren are two of the four former Angels on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time, having both retired in 2015. Hunter has the best resume of the two, with his 50.7 career Wins Above Replacement, trailing only Mark Buehler (59.1) and Tim Hudson (57.9) among first-timers on the ballot.

Hunter was a nine-time Gold Glove Award winner and five-time All-Star who hit 353 home runs in 19 major league seasons. His best five-year stretch came with the Angels, hitting .286/.352/.462, a 122 OPS+, with 105 home runs and 147 doubles from 2008-12. His 20.7 WAR during his time with the Angels ranked 23rd among position players during the majors.

Hunter hit .273/.415/.424 during the Angels’ 2009 postseason run to the ALCS.

Haren overlapped with Hunter for 2½ seasons in Anaheim. Acquired at the trade deadline in 2010, Haren had a 3.52 ERA, a 109 ERA+ in 79 starts and 509 innings for the Angels, and finished seventh in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2011. In 13 major league seasons, the right-hander had a 3.75 ERA, a 109 ERA+, and 2,013 strikeouts in 2,419⅔ innings.

Haren’s 4.26 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the best in Angels history.

Other former Angels on the first-time HOF-eligible crew are reliever LaTroy Hawkins, who had a 3.64 ERA in 48 games in 2012 for the Angels, one of his 11 major league teams; and outfielder Shane Victorino, who played the final 38 games of his 12-year career with the Angels in 2015.

To remain on the ballot, players must receive at least five percent of the vote among the Baseball Writers Association of America. Among the 14 returnees from last year’s ballot, Bobby Abreu is the only one with Angels ties, playing in Anaheim from 2009-12.

Abreu only received 5.5 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot in 2020, so his place on the ballot is tenuous.

Among the returnees, Curt Schilling had the highest vote total last year at 70 percent, with 75 percent needed for induction.

Hall of Fame voting results will be announced by the BBWAA on January 26, with induction coming on Sunday, July 25 in Cooperstown, along with 2020 inductees Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons, and Marvin Miller, whose ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic.