The 2025 Baseball Hall Of Fame voting has come and gone and a strong three-person class will enter Cooperstown in June.

Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia entered the Hall during their first year on the ballot while Billy Wagner made it on his 10th and final season on the ballot.

From a Rangers perspective, franchise great Ian Kinsler will fall off the ballot after receiving just 2.5% of the vote.

However, that falling off may not have been warranted. Let’s break down why Kinsler should have at least stayed on the Hall Of Fame Ballot.

With a 35 WAR in a Rangers uniform, Kinsler ranks fifth in franchise history behind Pudge Rodriguez (50), Rafael Palmerio (44.6), Adrian Beltre (41.1), and Buddy Bell (36.3).

Once you begin to stack up Kinsler’s overall case, things begin to get interesting from a Hall Of Fame perspective.

Longevity is certainly a factor that is on Kinsler’s side as he put up solid numbers from his rookie year in 2008 until he left Detriot in 2018.

Excluding his final two seasons in 2018 and 2019, Kinsler slashed an impressive .273/.342/.447 234 home runs and 839 RBI.

Kinsler’s 54.1 career WAR places him ahead of serval Hall Of Fame second baseman such as Bill Mazeroski (36.5), Johnny Evers (47.7), Bid McPhee (50.5), Tony Lazzeri (50.6), and Bobby Doerr (51.8).

On the defensive side of things, Kinsler was elite putting up a 120 DRS (defensive runs saved) placing him amongst the top defensive second baseman in the modern era.

It wasn’t until Kinsler left Arlington that his defense was rewarded with two Gold Gloves in 2016 and 2018.

At the plate, there are plenty of stats that justify Kinsler staying on the ballot another year.

Kinsler is one of just 13 players in MLB history with multiple 30/30 seasons as he did so twice in a Rangers uniform in 2009 and 2011.

When you narrow things down to just second baseman, Kinsler is one of seven to have both 200 career home runs and stolen bases.

Things start to get interesting for Kinsler when you compare the case of Dustin Pedroia who came in at 11% during his first year on the ballot, keeping him on for another year.
It wouldn’t be outlandish at all to say Pedroia had a better prime than Kinsler. After all, he did win two championships and an MVP.

However, when you begin to stack up numbers, things get very interesting. Kinsler had a higher WAR (54.1 to 51.9), more hits (1999 to 1805), home runs (257 to 140), RBI (909 to 725), and stolen bases (243 to 138).

Obviously, if Pedroia would have stayed healthy this wouldn’t even be a debate and he would probably be in on the first ballot but you can’t play the what-if game.

Ian Kinsler is definitely not a first-ballot Hall Of Famer and probably shouldn’t even get in at all but when you stack up the numbers and his case, there is no doubt he should have gotten more than 5%.