Two center field stars inducted into 2026 class at National Baseball Hall of Fame class

Key Highlights

• As just revealed in a Tuesday night announcement on MLB Network by Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch, they’ll all be joined by the newest BBWAA inductees: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPurely by the numbers, Beltrán was always an excellent candidate for Cooperstown, as the switch-hitting center fielder finished his 20-year career in 2017 with 435 homers, 312 stolen bases, 2,725 hits, and 67.4 fWAR.
• He follows the legendary footsteps of Roberto Clemente in becoming the sixth Puerto Rican to make the Hall of Fame, joining first baseman Orlando Cepeda, second baseman Roberto Alomar, catcher Iván Rodríguez, and DH Edgar Martinez (born in New York but raised by his grandparents in Puerto Rico). A second-round prep pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 1995 MLB Draft, he zoomed through the minors and became a near-unanimous pick for 1999 AL Rookie of the Year.
• He largely toiled in anonymity on some bad Royals teams until the contending Houston Astros traded for him in June 2004, just before he made the first of nine career All-Star appearances with a 30/30 season.
• Beltrán excelled down the stretch as Houston won a Wild Card spot and then seized the national spotlight with a postseason for the ages.
• Even though the Astros didn’t make the World Series and got eliminated by the St.