COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Five former Seattle Mariners were selected to the official 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, released Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
The 32-player ballot features 18 new candidates and 14 holdovers from last year.
Results of the balloting will be released Jan. 21, 2020 and inductions will be made during Hall of Fame Weekend on July 26, 2020 in Cooperstown, New York.
The former Mariners up for induction include:
Omar Vizquel: Vizquel was originally signed by the Mariners as a non-drafted free agent in 1984 and made is major league debut on April 3, 1989. Vizquel played for the Mariners through the 1993 season before he was traded to the Cleveland Indians. In 660 games with the Mariners, Vizquel had a .252 batting average and a .309 on base percentage.
The shortstop went on to also play for the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox in his 24-year career. Vizquel was a three time all-star and finished his career with 2,977 hits.
Chone Figgins: Figgins signed with the Mariners as a free agent in 2010 after playing the first eight seasons of his career with the Anaheim Angels. From 2010-2012, Figgins played in 308 games with Seattle and had a .227 batting average and a .302 on-base percentage.
Figgins finished his career with 1,298 hits and a .349 on base percentage.
Raúl Ibañez: Ibañez played 11 of his 19 seasons in the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners – over three stops. He was originally drafted by the Mariners in the 37th round of the 1992 Major League Baseball draft. Ibañez played in Seattle from 1996-2000, from 2004-2008 and in 2012. In 1,110 games with the Mariners, Ibañez hit 156 home runs and had a .279 batting average.
Ibañez finished his career with 2,034 hits and 305 home runs.
Cliff Lee: Lee was traded to the Mariners in December 2009 after helping lead the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series. With the Mariners in 2010, Lee only appeared in 13 games – finishing with a 8-3 record and 2.34 earned run average. The Mariners traded Lee to the Texas Rangers in July in exchange for Justin Smoak and other prospects.
Lee won the AL Cy Young Award in 2008 with the Cleveland Indians, and also played for the Texas Rangers in his career.
J.J. Putz: Putz was drafted by the Mariners in the sixth round of 1999 MLB draft and made his big league debut in August 2003. Putz made 308 relief appearances for the Mariners from 2003 to 2008 – and was named to the AL All-Star team in 2007. Putz was traded to the New York Mets in December 2008 and also played for the Arizona Diamondbacks in his career.
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