Is Ichiro a unanimous Hall of Famer? Paul Skenes lands NL Rookie honors, new team in Juan Soto sweepstakes

One of the more highly debated subjects of the baseball offseason is when the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot gets released. This year, however, there will be no debate about if Ichiro Suzuki will be elected, but rather if he will become only the second player ever to be voted into Cooperstown unanimously, joining Mariano Rivera.

Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman talk about the case for Ichiro possibly collecting 100% of the votes and the reasons why there might be a handful of voters who don’t vote for him, despite his over 3,000 career hits and debuting in the majors at age 27. They also discuss the other potential first-ballot Hall of Famer in CC Sabathia, as well as take a look at the rest of the newest nominees to the ballot.

Also on this episode of the Baseball Bar-B-Cast, the guys discuss Paul Skenes running away with the NL Rookie of the Year award, Luis Gil winning the AL honors despite it being a much closer race than expected and why the Manager of the Year award is a little silly. Jake & Jordan then examine who might receive some MVP votes before talking about a new team added to the Juan Soto sweepstakes.

(1:57) - The Opener: 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot
(13:01) - Interesting first-time nominees
(29:12) - Rookie of the Year results
(34:40) - Manager of the Year results
(43:27) - Cy Young Award preview
(45:41) - A look at the MVP nominees
(59:05) - Turbo Mode: A new Juan Soto suitor

 

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And check out Jake, Jordan & the show on X or Instagram:

🐦 @CespedesBBQ: https://twitter.com/CespedesBBQ

📷 @CespedesBBQ: https://www.instagram.com/cespedesbbq

⚾ @Jake_Mintz: https://twitter.com/Jake_Mintz

🧢 @J_Shusterman: https://twitter.com/j_shusterman_

Subscribe to Baseball Bar-B-Cast on your favorite podcast app:

🎧 Apple Podcasts

🎧 Spotify

🖥️ YouTube

📢 Check out the Yahoo Sports podcast network or yahoosports.tv

And check out Jake, Jordan & the show on X or Instagram:

🌤️ @CespedesBBQ: https://bsky.app/profile/cespedesbbq.bsky.social

🐦 @CespedesBBQ: https://x.com/CespedesBBQ

📷 @CespedesBBQ: https://www.instagram.com/cespedesbbq

⚾ @Jake_Mintz: https://x.com/Jake_Mintz

🧢 @J_Shusterman: https://x.com/j_shusterman_