MLB: Top 5 Hall of Fame candidates for 2017

4. Trevor Hoffman

Former San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman had a solid showing on the 2016 Hall of Fame ballot, getting 67.3 percent of the votes. The only things that might keep Hoffman from the Hall of Fame are that he’s a closer and his name isn’t Mariano Rivera. However, just because Hoffman wasn’t as good as the best closer ever doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be enshrined in Cooperstown.

While Rivera entered games to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” on the east coast for the league’s most popular team, Hoffman entered games to AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” on the west coast for a team that was rarely good enough to be contenders. Hoffman suffers from that a bit as well – most writers didn’t get to witness Hoffman that often since Padres games usually started around the same time as east coast writers were finishing their post-game recaps.

He is second to Rivera in career saves. That is quite the accomplishment. He wasn’t as dominant as Rivera, who dared batters to hit his cutters (with almost all of them failing miserably), however, Hoffman was extremely effective and he helped to cement the current closer role. This year’s ballot cleared off Piazza, so now voters who go with the ten player limit probably have enough room to get Hoffman on their ballot.

Next: 3. Ivan Rodriguez