Forgotten Ranger predicted to headline 2026 National Baseball Hall of Fame class

As the January 20 National Baseball Hall of Fame election deadline nears, former Texas Ranger Carlos Beltran sits as a frontrunner to represent the class of 2026.

Beltran, spent 20 years in Major League Baseball on seven different teams, had a stint as a member of the Rangers in 20176. That season he appeared in 52 games after being traded mid-season from the New York Yankees. He finished his tenure with Texas hitting .280 with seven home runs, 29 RBIs, 12 doubles and 13 walks.

He's on his the ballot for the fourth year and over time has increased his voting percentage to just over 70 percent last season. Needing 75 percent to get elected, he's closing in on baseball immortality but faces obstacles given his involvement in the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal.

Beltran's career numbers line up, but sign-stealing scandal jeopardizes him

When examining Beltran's 20-year big league career, you will see nothing but performing from when he broke into the league as a 21-year-old with the Kansas City Royals and his dominant playoff run with Houston in 2004 to three-straight Gold Gloves with the New York Mets.

A career .279 hitter, Beltran amassed a 70 WAR through 2,586 games 435 home runs, 1,586 RBIs and 312 stolen bases. Beltran is just the 38th player in MLB history with at least 400 home runs and 1,500 RBIs, 30 of which are Hall of Famers, including Adrian Beltre.

In other feats he's one of just five players in AL/NL history in the 500/400/300 club, boast the best career stolen base percentage (85) and has a 1.000 OPS in the postseason which is just one of 10 players to do so.

What is holding him back is the most recent (2020) findings pertaining to the Astros sign stealing scandal during their World Series championship run in 2017, which Beltran helped devise the plan.

His involvement in the scandal ended his stint as the Mets' manager before even coaching a single game. He was hired in November 2019 but eventually stepped down in January 2020 once the scandal became public.

The public outcry from the scandal instantly made the Astros public enemy No. 1, getting booed everywhere they went and to this day the players still experience heckling, regardless of whether they still play for Houston or not.

In an era where steroid users are visibly getting ousted from Hall of Fame consideration, Beltran's positive momentum in voting astounds people. As MLB writers shun the home run leader Barry Bonds and the league's third-most strikeout pitcher in Roger Clemens, admitting Beltran to Hall of Fame would be a farce.