Top 5 Phillies with a Hall of Fame case

PHILADELPHIA -- Who will be the next Phillies player to make the Hall of Fame?

There are more than a handful of candidates, but here are MLB.com’s top five players with Phillies connections currently without a bronze plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1. Jimmy Rollins (47.6 bWAR)

Rollins appeared on 9.4 percent of ballots cast by the BBWAA in his first year of eligibility in 2022 and has remained in contention in the years since. (Players must hit the 5 percent mark to remain on the ballot for up to 10 years of eligibility.)

There are many reasons why he deserves serious consideration. Rollins finished his career with 2,455 hits. He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 2007, batting .296 with 30 home runs, 94 RBIs and an .875 OPS. He won four Gold Glove Awards and one Silver Slugger Award. He made three NL All-Star teams and earned MVP votes in five seasons. He helped the Phillies win a World Series, two NL pennants and five consecutive NL East titles. He was brilliant defensively.

Rollins compares well to other Hall of Fame shortstops, too. His career bWAR ranks 25th all time among shortstops, better than six Hall of Fame shortstops, including Phil Rizzuto.

2. Chase Utley (64.4 bWAR)

Utley’s career bWAR ranks 15th among second basemen, better than 12 Hall of Fame second basemen, including Jackie Robinson. Utley’s 62.0 bWAR from 2004-14 ranked third behind only Albert Pujols (76.2 WAR) and Adrián Beltré (63.3 WAR). Miguel Cabrera (59.3) and Alex Rodriguez (52.2) rounded out the top five. In other words, Utley was one of the most dominant players in baseball for more than a decade. That alone should make him a strong Hall of Fame candidate.

Utley appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2024 and earned 28.8 percent of the vote, then jumped to 39.8 percent in his second year.

3. Curt Schilling (79.5 bWAR)

Schilling had a Hall of Fame-worthy career based on his regular-season statistics, but he truly made his mark in the postseason as one of baseball's greatest big-game pitchers. He began that reputation with the Phillies. Schilling had a 1.69 ERA in two starts against the Braves in the 1993 National League Championship Series. After he got hit hard in Game 1 of the ’93 World Series against the Blue Jays, he pitched a five-hit shutout in Game 5, extending the series another game.

Schilling, however, got only 58.6 percent of the vote in his 10th and final season of BBWAA eligibility in 2022. (He needed 75 percent.) He was twice on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot, but he did not meet the 75 percent threshold he would need from the 16-member committee, either.

4. Bobby Abreu (60.2 bWAR)

Abreu has received modest consideration for the Hall of Fame through his first six years on the ballot, garnering a personal-best 19.5% of the votes in 2025.

Though Abreu still has a long way to go to earn enshrinement from the BBWAA, the longtime Phillies outfielder certainly has a unique case for the Hall of Fame. Though he was only a two-time All-Star and one-time Gold Glove Award winner, Abreu famously put on a show at the 2005 Home Run Derby in Detroit.

But Abreu was far from just a home run hitter. In fact, he reached base 3,979 times during his 18-year career. The only players to reach base more times during that same span (1996-2014) were Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Chipper Jones. Abreu also led the Majors with 1,396 walks from 1998-2011.

Abreu might not be the stereotypical Hall of Famer, but with 195 home runs, 254 stolen bases and a 128 OPS+, don't be surprised if he continues to gain support in the coming years.

5. Cole Hamels (59.0 bWAR)

Times are changing so perhaps BBWAA voters will give Hamels’ career a closer look than they would have just five or 10 years ago as he debuts on the ballot in 2026. Look past Hamels’ 163-122 career record with the Phillies, Rangers, Cubs and Braves from 2006-20. Look at how he compared to the game’s greatest pitchers in that span. During his career, he ranked fifth among all pitchers in bWAR (59.0). Only Justin Verlander (72.5), Clayton Kershaw (67.2), Zack Greinke (62.9) and Max Scherzer (59.7) ranked higher.

Hamels made four All-Star teams. He finished top 10 in Cy Young voting four times. He won 2008 World Series and NLCS MVP honors. If you look at Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores, Hamels compared most closely to Madison Bumgarner from ages 30-32, John Smoltz from ages 33-35 and Schilling at age 36. Smoltz is in the Hall of Fame. Schilling probably should be. It’ll be interesting to see where Hamels ends up.