Encarnación the latest Blue Jay from 2015–16 era to have Hall candidacy fall short

Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones are heading to the Hall of Fame. They were the only former major leaguers who were on at least 75% of the ballots cast after the results were revealed on Tuesday night (Jan. 20). One former Blue Jay who won't be joining them is slugging first baseman Edwin Encarnación who received just 1.4% of the overall vote.

That makes Edwin the latest former Blue Jay who played on the Blue Jays AL East division winning team in 2015, and Wild Card winning team in 2016, that will unfortunately go down as a guy who only appeared once on the ballot.

Edwin Encarnación the latest one and done Blue Jay on the hall of fame ballot

For Encarnación it was going to be tough to make an argument for why he should be a hall of famer. He had a lot of really good seasons, but never had one of those all-time great stretches, although between 2012 and 2019 he hit 297 home runs, had an OPS of .892 and and OPS+ of 138. He was worth 29.1 bWAR while playing with the Blue Jays, Cleveland Guardians, New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners over that run.

Edwin finished with 424 career home runs which is certainly a lot to be proud of. If he could have had one or two more years in the early part of his career where he reached the 30+ homer plateau, this may be a different story. Getting to 480+ home runs likely would've given voters a lot more pause before dismissing Encarnación. Unfortunately for him, he didn't really explode, power wise, until he hit 42 home runs in 2012 at 29-years-old.

Russell Martin - 2025 ballot, 2.3% of the vote

Martin spent four years in Toronto where he accumulated an 8.1 bWAR and hit 66 home runs in four seasons, including tying a franchise high for a catcher with 23 bombs in 2015. There were certainly plenty of underlying stats that showed Martin as having a tremendous combination of elite defensive skills behind the dish while being a an above average hitter at his position for a good stretch of his career overall.

But voters tend to not care about the defensive metrics when looking at the Hall of Fame, just look at Jones who won 10 gold gloves in center field, tied for third most all-time among outfielders. Regardless, Martin may not be worthy of enshrinement, but he had a great career that probably deserved a little more love than a one and done HOF ballot.

Troy Tulowitzki - 2025 ballot, 1% of the vote

In another timeline, Tulowitzki is the first player to begin and end his career as a member of the Colorado Rockies, who gets inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was the face of the franchise for a long time and he was trending on a Hall of Fame path. But at the 2015 trade deadline he was sent to Toronto and after a year and a half where he produced 4.2 bWAR for two Blue Jays' playoff teams, he was hampered by injuries and by his age 34 season in 2019 he was done for good.

Tulo put up some incredible offensive numbers for a shortstop, but a few injuries in Colorado hindered some of that production and he never got a second half career renaissance to pad some of those stats.

José Bautista - 2024 ballot, 1.6% of the vote

Primarily an outfielder during his time with the Blue Jays, Bautista's story is so well known by that point, but just in case the recap goes like this. Drafted by Pittsburgh in the 20th round in 2000. Spent the next eight years toiling in the minors while bouncing around to different organizations, including playing for four teams in one year in 2004. Traded to Toronto in 2008, unlocked something in his game at the end of 2009 and then set the franchise record for home runs in a season with 54 in 2010.

Despite having his breakout season at age 29, Bautista still made six All-Star games, won three Silver Sluggers, finished top six in MVP voting three times and stille managed to finish with 344 career home runs. From 2010-15 he had one of the best five year stretches in Blue Jays history hitting 227 home runs, slashing .268/.390/.555 with an OPS of .945 and an OPS+ of 156 and accumulated a bWAR of 35.2.

While his numbers certainly fall short of Cooperstown candidacy it's amazing to see that he reached some very lofty numbers after being a below replacement level player for those first eight years of his career.

R.A. Dickey - 2023 ballot, 0.3% of the vote

Coming off a Cy Young season, Dickey never quite lived up to those expectations in Toronto. The Blue Jays traded for Dickey in the hopes of kick starting a new era of competitiveness. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos made the Dickey acquisition after also getting a haul from the Miami Marlins that included Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, José Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio. With Dickey in the fold, the Blue Jays felt like they had won the offseason and that the playoffs would be in reach in 2013.

It didn't quite work out that way, although in Dickey's four seasons with the Blue Jays he put up a 7.1 bWAR with a 4.05 ERA in 824.1 innings pitched and was part of two rotations that reached the postseason in 2015 and '16. The knuckleballer, like Bautista had a late career resurgence, but his peak didn't last for as long as Bautista's did and he was never one of the top pitchers in the league while with the Blue Jays.