Former Astros great fell five votes short of Hall of Fame induction

The 2024 MLB Hall of Fame class was announced on Tuesday and will include former Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer, third basemen Adrian Beltre and first basemen Todd Helton. 

It almost included a fourth member as former Houston Astros closer Billy Wagner fell just short of the 75% vote threshold for induction.

How close did he come?

He was just five votes short. 

That is a painfully close miss for Wagner who was one of the most dominant relief pitchers and closers of his era. Wagner is sixth on the All-Time saves left with 422, including 225 with the Astros.

He also pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves throughout his 16-year career. 

Wagner has one more year of eligibility remaining on the ballot.

The good news for him, however, is that there seems to be enough momentum for him to finally get over the hump and get the call in the Class of 2025. 

He has seen his status consistently rise over the past few years, climbing all the way up to 73.8% of the vote this year. Back in 2016 he received just 10% of the vote.

While next year's potential class is looking strong with first-year eligibles like Ichiro and C.C. Sabathia, as well as returning players like Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones. 

But Wagner's proogress, as well as the fact players tend to get a significant boost in their final year on the ballot, should be enough to get Wagner in.