Browsing: newcomers

Nov 17, 2025, 12:33 PM ET

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp are among 12 newcomers on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released Monday, and Carlos Beltrán heads 15 holdovers after falling 19 votes shy in 2025 balloting.

Howie Kendrick, Daniel Murphy and Rick Porcello also are among the first-time eligibles, joined by Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnación, Gio González, Alex Gordon, Nick Markakis and Hunter Pence.

Cole Hamels — who threw a no-hitter in 2015 against the Cubs — along with Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp are among 12 newcomers on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Carlos Beltrán heads 15 holdovers after falling 19 votes shy in 2025 balloting. Jeff Chiu/AP

Beltrán received 277 of 394 votes for 70.3% in the 2025 balloting, when Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected.

A nine-time All-Star, Beltrán hit .279 with 435 homers and 1,587 RBIs over 20 seasons with Kansas City (1999-2004), Houston (2004, 2017), the New York Mets (2005-11), San Francisco (2011), St. Louis (2012-13), the New York Yankees (2014-16) and Texas (2016).

He received 46.5% support in his first ballot appearance in 2023, then rose to 57.1% in his second.

Beltrán was the only player cited by name in baseball commissioner Rob Manfred’s 2020 report concluding the Astros used electronics in violation of rules to steal signs during Houston’s run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. Three days after the report was issued, the Mets said Beltrán was out as their manager, just 2½ months after he was hired.

Other holdovers include steroids-tainted stars Alex Rodriguez (146 votes, 37.1%) and Manny Ramirez (135, 34.3%), along with Andruw Jones (261, 66.2%), Chase Utley (157, 39.8%), Andy Pettitte (110, 27.9%), Félix Hernández (81, 20.6%), Bobby Abreu (77, 19.5%), Jimmy Rollins (71, 18%), Omar Vizquel (70, 17.8%), Dustin Pedroia (47, 11.9%), Mark Buehrle (45, 11.4%), Francisco Rodríguez (40, 10.2%), David Wright (32, 8.1%) and Torii Hunter (20, 5.1%).

Pettitte is on the ballot for the eighth time after doubling support from 13.5% in 2024. A player can appear on the ballot up to 10 times.

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BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of membership are eligible to vote. Ballots must be postmarked by Dec. 31, and results will be announced Jan. 20. Anyone elected will be inducted July 26 along with anyone chosen Dec. 7 by the hall’s contemporary baseball era committee ballot considering eight players whose greatest contributions to the sport were from 1980 on.

Hamels, a four-time All-Star, was 163-122 with a 3.43 ERA for Philadelphia (2006-15), Texas (2015-18), the Chicago Cubs (2018-19) and Atlanta (2020), pitching a no-hitter for the Phillies against the Cubs on July 25, 2015. He was MVP of the 2008 NL Championship Series and World Series as Philadelphia won its second title, its first since 1980.

Braun, the 2011 MVP and a six-time All-Star, hit .296 with 352 homers and 1,154 RBIs for Milwaukee from 2007 to 2020. He was suspended for the final 65 games of the 2013 season for violations of baseball’s drug program and labor contract. A 50-game suspension for an alleged positive test in 2011 was overturned after Braun challenged the chain of custody of the urine sample.

Kemp, a three-time All-Star, batted .284 with 287 homers and 1,031 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2006-14, 2018), San Diego (2015-16), Atlanta (2016-17), Cincinnati (2019) and Colorado (2020).

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy are being considered by the contemporary era committee, along with Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela.

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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp are among 12 newcomers on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, and Carlos Beltrán heads 15 holdovers after falling 19 votes shy in 2025 balloting.

Howie Kendrick, Daniel Murphy and Rick Porcello also are among the first-time eligibles, joined by Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnación, Gio González, Alex Gordon, Nick Markakis and Hunter Pence.

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Beltrán received 277 of 394 votes for 70.3% in the 2025 balloting, when Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were elected.

A nine-time All-Star, Beltrán hit .279 with 435 homers and 1,587 RBIs over 17 seasons with Kansas City (1999-2004), Houston (2004, â€17), the New York Mets (2005-11), San Francisco (2011), St. Louis (2012-13), the New York Yankees (20014-16) and Texas (2016).

He received 46.5% support in his first ballot appearance in 2023, then rose to 57.1% in his second.

Beltrán was the only player cited by name in baseball Commissioner Rob Manfredâ€s 2020 report concluding the Astros used electronics in violation of rules to steal signs during Houstonâ€s run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season. Three days after the report was issued, the New York Mets said Beltrán was out as their manager, just 2 1/2 months after he was hired.

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Other holdovers include steroids-tainted stars Alex Rodriguez (146 votes, 37.1%) and Manny Ramirez (135, 34.3%) along with Andruw Jones (261, 66.2%), Chase Utley (157, 39.8%), Andy Pettitte (110, 27.9%), Félix Hernández (81, 20.6%), Bobby Abreu (77, 19.5%), Jimmy Rollins (71, 18%), Omar Vizquel (70, 17.8%), Dustin Pedroia (47, 11.9%), Mark Buehrle (45, 11.4%), Francisco Rodríguez (40, 10.2%), David Wright (32, 8.1%) and Torii Hunter (20, 5.1%).

Pettitte is on the ballot for the eighth time after doubling support from 13.5% in 2024. A player can appear on the ballot up to 10 times.

BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of membership are eligible to vote. Ballots must be postmarked by Dec. 31 and results will be announced Jan. 20. Anyone elected will be inducted on July 26 along with anyone chosen Dec. 7 by the hallâ€s contemporary baseball era committee ballot considering eight players whose greatest contributions to the sport were from 1980 on.

Hamels, a four-time All-Star, was 163-122 with a 3.43 ERA for Philadelphia (2006-15), Texas (2015-18), the Chicago Cubs (2018-19) and Atlanta (2020), pitching a no-hitter from the Phillies against the Cubs on July 25, 2015. He was MVP of the 2008 NL Championship Series and World Series as Philadelphia won its second title, its first since 1980.

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Braun, the 2011 MVP and a six-time All-Star, hit .296 with 352 homers and 1,154 RBIs for Milwaukee from 2007-20. He was suspended for the final 65 games of the 2013 season for violations of baseballâ€s drug program and labor contract. A 50-game suspension for an alleged positive test in 2011 was overturned after Braun challenged the chain of custody of the urine sample.

Kemp, a three-time All-Star, batted .284 with 287 homers and 1,031 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2006-14, â€18), San Diego (2015-16), Atlanta (2016-17), Cincinnati (2019) and Colorado (2020).

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy are being considered by the contemporary era committee along with Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela.

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Six-time All-Star Blake Griffin was a double-double machine during his NBA career. It’s a score he avoids now that he spends more time on the course.

GOLF: As a fairly new convert to golf, what’s one piece of advice that you might give other newbies trying to improve their game?

Blake Griffin:Good question. Here’s something I learned early in my career in basketball: It doesn’t matter what you do in the first quarter; it’s what you do over the course of the game. The same is true of golf. It’s what you do over the course of your round. You can have a great drive and then shank the next shot. Things are never as good as they seem or as bad as they seem. You just got to ride the wave, and that’s what I like about golf.

G: Solid take. Now that you’re retired from the NBA [since 2023], what’s one place you’d like to play and finally have the time to get there?

BG:I’ve played at a lot of cool places, but I’ve heard Bandon Dunes is great. I would like to go up there and check it out.

NBA star, collegiate golfer J.R. Smith says this golf advice helped him the most

By:

Jessica Marksbury

G: Where are you playing most of your golf now?

BG:I’m a member at Lakeside Golf & Country Club in L.A. I got a good group of guys I play with regularly, but we like to get out to other spots too.

G: Speaking of travel, the NBA has some long road trips. Do you ever wish you’d played golf back then when you’d see teammates slip out on an off day to get in a round?

BG:My man, being on the road in the NBA means you got to find your own way. That’s what I tried to do.

G: You’re famous for once jumping over a car in the slam dunk contest, which you won. What golf landmark would be cool to jump over? The Swilcan Bridge? Rae’s Creek?

BG:[Laughs] I don’t think I could jump over anything now. That was a long time ago, man.

G: Besides the 8AM Invitational, what are some of the other celebrity tournaments that you’ve had the chance to play in?

BG:I played in Tahoe — the Edgewood tournament [American Century Championship]. There were like 20,000 fans a day. That first day, I was so nervous. I was like shaking over practice putts, you know. Like, even when I wasn’t about to hit the ball, I was still nervous.

G: In general, are there shots on course that you’re more nervous about?

BG:Like, anything. I don’t even want to say it. Once I say it, it’s going to be out there. Okay, any shot between 65 to 85 yards. Don’t know why.

G: Golfers have been known to enjoy putting a few dollars on their matches. Keeps things interesting. How big a wager makes you nervous?

The Providence Bruins are going to have a boatload of talent going into next season, specifically offensively. For the 2025-24 campaign, their top-six forward group, and maybe even deeper, will be littered with NHL-fringe players.

Last season, Providence finished eighth in the overall AHL standings, registering 90 points and a 41-23-8 record. With that, they advanced to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs, but were eliminated by the Charlotte Checkers in the Atlantic Division semifinal, losing in five games.

The Bruins†offense was already one of their strong suits last season. They finished fifth overall in goals scored with 240, averaging 3.33 goals per game. They also had the best power-play percentage in the Eastern Conference – third-best in the entire league – registering 21.4 percent.

Providence lost two of its top five scorers from last season in Vinni Lettieri and Tyler Pitlick. However, center Georgii Merkulov, their leading scorer from last season with 54 points, remains. On top of that, center Patrick Brown and Riley Tufte are also sticking around as they signed one-year contracts in the off-season.

Coach Ryan Mougenel wonâ€t have to worry about making up for lost scoring because theyâ€ll be receiving a few players who will only bolster their attack.

Five AHL Coaches Nearing Promotions To The NHL
Oftentimes, when an NHL coach is fired or removed from their role in any fashion, itâ€s natural to immediately look for candidates who are next in line to take that job. The obvious picks are outside hires who have NHL experience and who are one or two years removed from an NHL coaching position.

Along with the previously listed players, Providence will still have Matthew Poitras, Fraser Minten, Fabian Lysell and others on the roster. But still coming in are center Alex Steeves and right winger Matej Blumel.

Steeves is coming off the best season of his four-year pro-hockey career. He scored 36 goals and 62 points in 59 games for the Toronto Marlies last season. He finished second in the league in goals and eighth in points. He also made a few NHL appearances for the Toronto Maple Leafs in each of those four years.

The one player who had more goals than Steeves last season was also picked up by the Bruins organization in Blumel. The Czech right winger scored a league-leading 39 goals, but also ended up second in the AHL in points with 72 to his name. He was just one point behind San Jose Barracuda center Andrew Poturalski, who is now a member of Omsk of the KHL.

Thereâ€s no denying that a handful of those players who make up Providenceâ€s scoring depth will get looks with the NHLâ€s Boston Bruins. But, in the big picture, this team should be reaching new heights this coming season.

Check out our AHL to KHL signing tracker and AHL Free Agency signing tracker.

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