CC Sabathia was an ace. You know who screamed this fact loudest? Not me. The sport did. The sport told us what the final numbers didn’t.

Chase Utley and Ian Kinsler had virtually identical careers from a stats and awards perspective, but their Hall of Fame cases vary widely.

Chase Utley was one of the biggest risers in this year’s Hall of Fame voting. Is he trending toward eventual enshrinement?

The trio of stars, each of whom spent part of their career in New York, will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 27.

Tuesday is one of the holy days on the baseball calendar, the announcement of players voted into the Hall of Fame. The honor is extreme and well-earned, with just over 1% of all big leaguers making it to Cooperstown for what they did as players: 275 out of 23,370.

Suzuki, the first Japanese-born inductee, will be joined by longtime ace left-hander CC Sabathia and hard-throwing closer Billy ... a gain of almost five percent from last January. Second baseman Chase Utley, in his second year on the ballot, jumped ...

Ichiro Suzuki 393 (99.7), CC Sabathia 342, (86.8), Billy Wagner 325 (82.5), Carlos Beltran 277, (70.3) , Andruw Jones 261 (66.2), Chase Utley 157 (39.8), Alex Rodríguez 146 (37.1) , Manny Ramirez ...

PLAYER VOTES PCT. (%) Ichiro Suzuki 393 99.7 CC Sabathia 342 86.8 Billy Wagner 325 82.5 Carlos Beltrán 277 70.3 Andruw Jones 261 66.2 Chase Utley 157 39.8 Álex Rodríguez 146 37.1 Manny Ramírez ...

There was no doubt about Ichiro and little doubt about CC Sabathia, but one-time Phillies ... but are trending toward election. So is Chase Utley, one of the biggest risers in the field.

Voting for the Hall of Fame is an incredible honor, and it’s something I and the others who have those votes spend a great deal of time on. I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t spend at least a few minutes thinking about next year’s vote.

Wagner had a 1.98 earned run average and struck out 22 of the 56 batters he faced in his 15 games for the Red sox in 2009.

The Cooperstown candidacies of Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones might benefit by the lack of slam-dunk newcomers to the 2026 Hall of Fame ballot.