The Baseball Hall of Fame announced the newest members of Cooperstown on Jan. 20. Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran made the cut for the 2026 class, exceeding the 75% threshold needed for induction. While no other player even got 60% of the BBWAA votes, the next closest player was a familiar face to Philadelphia Phillies fans in Chase Utley.
According to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, the former Phillies second baseman got 59.1% of the vote this year. This represented a significant increase from the 39.8% received in 2025.
This was Utley’s third year of eligibility, and it appears he has more than enough time to gain the votes needed to get him into Cooperstown.
Utley’s Time With the Philadelphia Phillies
Utley was drafted in the first round of the 2000 MLB Draft out of UCLA. He would debut in 2003, where the second baseman quickly showed his talents with the Phillies.
In 2005, he would have a breakout season, batting .291 with a .915 OPS. During that season, he would hit 28 home runs and 105 runs driven in, with a 7.3 bWAR.
Utley had arrived for the Phillies. He would proceed to make five straight All-Star Game appearances from 2006-2010, with four straight Silver Slugger Awards and 38.1 bWar.
During this time period, he would also make the World Series twice in 2008 and 2009, winning it all in 2008. His playoff pedigree was elite during this time as well, hitting nine home runs and 19 RBIs in those two playoff runs.
He would spend 13 years with the Phillies, hitting 233 home runs, with an .847 OPS and 62 bWAR. While the rest of his career wasn’t much to write home about with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he put together an elite career.
But does he deserve to make it into Cooperstown?
When comparing his stats to others, the position and the type of player Utley was mattered. A second baseman with some pop in his bat should not be compared to a power-hitting outfielder.
According to Baseball-Reference, he had a 49.3 seven-year peak WAR. The average Hall of Fame second baseman had a 44.1 seven-year peak WAR.
Likely, Utley will eventually be in Cooperstown.
Which Other Phillies Were on the Ballot?
Other Phillies on the ballot this year were outfielder Bobby Abreu, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, and pitcher Cole Hamels.
In Abreu’s seventh year on the ballot, he jumped up from 19.5% to 30.8%. Abreu had a career 60.2 bWAR with 288 home runs and an .870 OPS. He has little time left to make the jump to 75%.
In Rollins’ fifth year on the ballot, he rose from 18% to 25.4%. Rollins was Utley’s double-play partner for many years at shortstop for the Phillies from 2000-2014. Winning an MVP award, Rollins accumulated 47.9 bWAR with 231 home runs.
Finally, in his first year of eligibility, Hamels got 23.8% of the vote, a promising start to his time on the ballot. Hamels won 163 games in his 15-year career, 10 of which came with the Phillies.
He accumulated a 57.9 bWAR with a 3.43 ERA and 2560 strikeouts. Hamels was the NLCS and World Series MVP in Philadelphia’s 2008 playoff run.
Even though a Phillie did not make it into the Hall of Fame in 2026, one of those four names will likely make it in the next half-decade, with Utley being the most likely.
Former Phillies Second Baseman Misses Cut For Cooperstown