Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin Lead First-Time Hall of Fame Nominees

With the 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees being announced next month, this is a good time to look at the players on the ballot for the first time and how their statistics match up with other first-time players.

Hitters

Hits

Roberto Alomar 2,724

Barry Larkin 2,340

Home Runs

Fred McGriff 493

Andres Galarraga 399

Runs Batted In

Fred McGriff 1,550

Andres Galarraga 1,425

Stolen Bases

Roberto Alomar 474

Barry Larkin 379

Batting Average

Edgar Martinez .312 (Leads all players on the ballot)

Roberto Alomar .300 (Don Mattingly at .307 is only other .300 hitter on ballot)

On-Base Percentage

Edgar Martinez .414 (Only player on ballot with OBP over .400)

Fred McGriff .377

Slugging Percentage

Edgar Martinez .515

Ellis Burks .510

On-Base Plus Slugging

Edgar Martinez .933

Fred McGriff .886

Pitchers

Wins

Kevin Appier 169

Pat Hentgen 131

ERA

Mike Jackson 3.42

Kevin Appier 3.74

Strikeouts

Kevin Appier 1,994

Shane Reynolds 1,403

Summary

It is safe to say that no pitcher on the ballot for the first time will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next year with Kevin Appier leading first-time pitchers in wins with 169.

Roberto Alomar has the best chance among first-time players to be voted in on his first try, with Barry Larkin likely to garner enough votes to finish second among first-time players. Alomar and Larkin each have been voted to 12 All-Star teams.

Larkin was voted the 1995 NL MVP despite hitting 15 homers and driving in 66 runs while stealing 51 bases. Ironically, the next season he hit 33 homers and drove in 89 runs and finished 12th in NL MVP voting.

Edgar Martinez posted some great lifetime numbers, but falling 753 hits short of 3,000 hurts his chances, plus the fact that he was almost exclusively a DH for the last 10 years of his career won’t make it easy for him to be voted in.

Fred McGriff and Andres Galarraga posted good power numbers, but they are both over 500 hits shy of 3,000.

Mark McGwire leads all sluggers on the ballot with a .588 mark, but first-timers Martinez, Ellis Burks, and McGriff are the only other players on the ballot with a slugging percentage over .500.

We will know in about a month who will be inducted next July at Cooperstown, but until the voting is announced, here are the statistics for all the players on the ballot.