After weeks of speculation, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced its 2026 Hall of Fame Class on Tuesday, January 20. Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones passed the minimum threshold to get in the Hall through the votes of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Regarding the Boston Red Sox, two of their own, legends in their own right, did not make it in.
Now, with the dust settled on the 2026 Class, where do Manny Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia stand when it comes to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the future?
Ramirez’s Chances After Missing Out on 10-Year Ballot Run
GettyBoston Red Sox legend Manny Ramirez
After the final tallies came out, Ramirez finished with 165 votes, giving him a 38.8% in his 10th and final year on the ballot. Unfortunately, players need 75% or more to get it. Ramirez will have to rely on the era committee to get in, just like Jeff Kent did to get selected for the 2026 Hall of Fame Class. He did get a slight bump following the 2025 ballot (34.3%), but it seems like he was going to have a hard time getting into Cooperstown.
During his playing career, Ramirez had a 69.3 wins above replacement (WAR), 2,574 hits, 555 home runs, 1,831 RBIs, a career .312 average, a slash line of .411/.585/.996, and an OPS+ of 154. He managed to finish with those numbers in a 19-year MLB career spanning from the then-Cleveland Indians, now Guardians, Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Tampa Bay Rays. 16 of those years were split between eight in Cleveland and eight in Boston. During his time with the Red Sox, he won two World Series in 2004 and ’07.
Ramirez was a 12-time All-Star, 9-time Silver Slugger, a World Series MVP (’04), and won a batting title (.349 in 2002). While he had the titles and the individual accolades, his multiple suspensions of steriods ultimalty limited his chances to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Could the era committee select him for the Hall, or will Ramirez be on the outside looking in for a long time?
Dustin Pedroia Gaining Voting Momentum
GettyBoston Red Sox’s Dustin Pedroia
Regarding Pedroia, he garnered 88 votes, giving him 20.7% in his second year on the ballot. In his first year on the ballot in 2025, he finished with 47 votes (11.9%). Seeing an almost 9% jump in votes gives some hope that Pedroia could maybe get the 75% in a future ballot.
When looking back on Pedroia’s career, he finished a 14-year career with a 51.8 WAR, 1,805 hits, 394 doubles, 15 triples, 140 home runs, 725 RBIs, 138 stolen bases, 624 walks, 654 strikeouts, and a .299 average. His slash line over that time was .365/.439/.805, along with a 113 OPS+. Furthermore, his wRC+ for his career was 115, according to FanGraphs.
Pedroia won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2007, following that up with an MVP season in 2008 after leading MLB in hits (213) and doubles (54). Pedroia was also a Silver Slugger that season, while finishing with an American League-leading 118 runs. He finished in the Top-10 for the MVP in 2011 (9th) and in 2013 (7th). His seventh-place MVP voting was during the season in which he claimed his second World Series with the Red Sox. He was also a four-time All-Star and claimed four Gold Glove awards.
When it comes down to it, Pedroia has the stats and the hardware to show he is worthy of a Hall of Fame call. The only question is, when will he get that call to be immortalized forever in Cooperstown?
Red Sox Legends Impacted by 2026 Hall of Fame Announcement