3 storylines Royals fans need to be watching ahead of 2026 Hall of Fame announcement

There are few honors in baseball quite as prestigious as being enshrined as a Hall-of-Famer in Cooperstown. And on Tuesday the baseball world will know who will be joining Jeff Kent in the class of 2026 after the BBWAA voting results are revealed.

For the Royals, while there may not be an abundance of storylines like some teams will have on Tuesday, there's still some names and trends that fans should pay attention to.

Some names tied to Kansas City could be on their way to receiving the 75% of the necessary vote to book their ticket to the Hall. Some will be fighting for the 5% to stay on ballot (or any recognition period). And some future names will be watching certain voting trends carefully for when their time on the ballot comes.

3 storylines Royals fans should pay attention to ahead of Tuesday's 2026 Hall of Fame announcement

Will Carlos Beltrán get the call to the Hall?

While he may not go into the Hall of Fame dawning a Royals cap, there's no denying that Beltrán had a Hall-of-Fame worthy career that he built its foundations for in Kansas City.

Beltrán is in his fourth year on the ballot and enters coming off a third year in which he received 70.3% of the vote.

He's a 9-time All-Star, 3-time Gold Glove Award winner, 2-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a Rookie of the Year (which he won with the Royals). He also holds a sterling statistical resume of a .279/.350/.486 slash line with 435 HR, 1587 RBI, 2725 hits, 312 SB and a 70.0 bWAR.

So, why exactly isn't he in the Hall of Fame yet?

Well, there's no denying he's a Hall of Famer based on stats and accolades, the problem, like many before him have experienced, is a question of his integrity.

While some have been blacklisted for their use of performance enhancing substances, Beltrán appears to be getting punished for his role in the Houston Astros' cheating scandal of the 2010s.

Given his voting trends, the fact he's under 5.0% off of the requires vote in under half of his allotted time on the ballot the odds are his punishment is only temporary and he will get the call, and in all likelihood it will be this year.

But that won't be known for certain until Tuesday evening.

Will Alex Gordon get any love from BBWAA voters at all?

Next we move to far less of a Hall-of-Fame certainty, perhaps not even a certainty for anything at all, in Alex Gordon.

Of all the first timers on this year's ballot, Gordon doesn't have the most promising resume, when compared to names like Cole Hamels or Ryan Braun.

That being said, there's plenty of real questions that could give Gordon a shot at some recognition on Tuesday's results reveal, even if it ends up being his only year on the ballot.

Gordon's .257/.338/.410 slash line with 1643 hits, 190 HR, 749 HR and 113 SB is the sign of a solid career, but not exactly one that has Hall of Fame written all over it.

However, there's more than meets the eye when it comes to Gordon, as the calling card of his career came with his glove.

As a left fielder, his 116 DRS is the highest total of any left fielder in MLB history, and among all players and any specific position ranks, that total ranks tied for 15th of all-time.

In total, as an outfielder, Gordon's an 8-time Gold Glove and 2-time Platinum Glove Award winner for a reason, posting a 113 DRS with coinciding above-average marks in both OAA and FRV.

The question is, how much will voters take the 3-time All-Star's defense into account?

While his 34.9 bWAR would indicate he's probably not a Hall-of-Famer, it shouldn't be an utter shock to see Gordon grab the odd vote or two to honor his defensive contributions to the game, even if that doesn't put him close to the 5.0% needed for him to remain on the ballot.

Will we learn anything about Salvador Perez's future Hall-of-Fame chances?

Lastly, we move to a Royals name who isn't on the ballot yet, and won't have his countdown clock to his arrival time on the ballot until he retires.

This of course is Salvador Perez, the 9-time All-Star, 5-time Gold Glove Award winner, 5-time Silver Slugger Award winner and 2015 World Series MVP.

Perez is one of the more decorated catchers in baseball history, but his stats leave enough to be desired to question whether or not he deserves a spot in Cooperstown after he decides to hang up his cleats.

Currently Perez is a .264/.301/.457 hitter with 303 HR, 1016 RBI and a 103 wRC+. Now, there's still more time left for Perez to alter these stats but at the end of the day, over 14 years he's still only a 35.5 bWAR hitter.

If all goes well, there's reason to believe Perez should eclipse the 40.0 bWAR mark. However, that still puts a bit of doubt into his Hall of Fame case.

There's numerous of position players on the ballot currently that are in the 40 bWAR range. Jimmy Rollins is at a 47.9 bWAR (18.0% entering his fifth year on the ballot), Omar Vizquel is at a 45.6 bWAR (was on track for the Hall but dropped to 17.8% of votes entering his ninth year) and David Wright at 49.1 bWAR (8.1% entering his third year on the ballot).

While Vizquel, before his off-field issues were brought into the light, seemed to be on a solid track to Cooperstown, with 52.6% of the vote after his third year on the ballot, Rollins' and Wright's cases look a little less promising for Perez's prospective chances at reaching this pinnacle career feat.

Given the fact that a name like Rollins has some strong accolades under his belt himself, such as the 2007 NL MVP and just one less Gold Glove than Perez, the fact he's still under 20.0% entering his fifth year makes Perez's hopes look even steeper.

These will be the names Royals fans will need to watch as closely as they'll be watching their own two horses in the race (Beltrán and Gordon) for the sake of their captain's future hopes.