A Pair of Under-the-Radar Mariners Could Finally Get the Hall of Fame Recognition They Deserve in 2026 .MH
Shouting out a pair of greats who had brief stops in Seattle.
The 2026 Hall of Fame ballot dropped on Monday, and the guy Seattle Mariners fans are focused on is Félix Hernández. He earned a second turn on the ballot after debuting with 20.6 percent of the vote in 2025, and he should only get closer to the requisite 75 percent this time around.
But what about the other two Mariners legends on the 2026 ballot? Won’t somebody please think about Shin-Soo Choo and Edwin Encarnación?
Sarcasm doesn’t always translate in this medium, so we’ll go ahead and acknowledge that “Mariners legends” is a facetious way to characterize Choo and Encarnación. They barely spent any time in Seattle, and whether they’re legends in any capacity depends on who you ask. But since each could have Hall of Fame votes coming his way, they’re still worth remembering and honoring.
Former Mariners Shin-Soo Choo and Edwin Encarnación are newcomers on the 2026 Hall of Fame ballot
The story of Choo’s major league career has a fascinating beginning. He was sort of a proto-Shohei Ohtani, as it was as a two-way star that he led South Korea to the World Junior Championship in 2000. The Mariners signed him that year to a $1.35 million bonus, with director of scouting and player development Roger Jongewaard remarking: “He’s the best kid in Asia that we’ve seen. He’s a legitimate two-way guy.”
The Mariners instantly converted Choo into a full-time outfielder, and he peaked as their No. 3 prospect for Baseball America for the 2005 season. He debuted in Seattle in April of that year, but ultimately only played 14 games as a Mariner before going to Cleveland in a trade centered on Ben Broussard in July of 2006.
What happened next is a funny story. The Mariners got -0.7 rWAR out of Broussard, and Choo went on to post more rWAR than any player who has come out of Korea before or since. He was also the all-time MLB leader in home runs by an Asia-born player before Ohtani came along.
Choo is therefore deserving of the honor to be the first Korean player to be up for induction to Cooperstown. He may get a vote or two just on that account, even if it seems unlikely that he’ll get the 5 percent of the vote he needs to stay on the ballot.
Ironically, it was via a trade with Cleveland that Encarnación came to the Mariners in December of 2018. It was one of the last stops he made in his major league career, and it only lasted 65 games before the Mariners traded him to the New York Yankees amid a dismal 2019 season.
Encarnación did hit 21 home runs before he left Seattle, a small yet not insignificant portion of the 335 he hit throughout the 2010s — the second-most of anyone after (Mariner alert!) Nelson Cruz. Encarnación is also eighth all-time in homers among sluggers from the Dominican Republic with 424.
Because Encarnación bested Choo in career rWAR (35.3 to 34.7) and All-Star appearances (3 to 1), there’s a case that he’s the more deserving of the two to go into Cooperstown. Yet even if Encarnación also gets a stray vote or two, he’s likewise probably not going to reach the 5 percent threshold to stay on the ballot.
Regardless, it’s always nice to have an excuse to talk about former Mariners who everyone forgets are former Mariners. And in this case, we’re more than happy to tip our cap to Choo and Encarnación and to wish them luck with their Hall of Fame pursuits.
