Jeff Kent was not listed on the 2023 MLB Hall of Fame voting results.
On Tuesday, the voting results for the complete 2023 National Baseball Hall of Fame were announced.
Of the 28 candidates on the Baseball Writers Association of America HOF ballot, third baseman Scott Rolen was the only one to reach 75% support. Because of this, Dodgers former second baseman Jeff Kent is now out of tries.
This year marked his tenth and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot. Last year, Kent received 32.7% of the vote, while this year he improved to 46.5% which is still well below the 75% mark needed for the election.
Many could argue that Kent should be inducted based on the singular fact that he hit more home runs as a second baseman than anyone else ever has.
On the other hand, Kent wasn’t actually a superior second baseman and also spent the last 12 years of his career between the first baseman and designated hitter.
When looking at his numbers at first base or DH, Kent accumulated 123 career OPS+ and 377 career homers. Taking these stats into consideration puts him in a different position in the voting conversation.
After all, those numbers place him behind guys like Derrek Lee, Joe Adcock, and Ryan Howard, who got just two percent of the vote in his only time on the ballot.
Tough Kent still has a chance to get into the Hall eventually, it is now certain that he won’t be elected by the BBWAA.