[FuzzyRussianHat]

The Asian Baseball Federation didn’t add any players into the Hall of Fame in 2020. It was the second blank ballot in five years and the fifth of the decade, as ABF seemed to add players in big bunches. No one cracked 60% and the best debut was down at 28.6%. Three returners were above 50% with SP Omar Ma’mur with 55.9% on his second ballot, SP Masruq Abbas at 55.6% on his eighth try, and 1B Altaf Aslam with 55.2% for his fifth go.



Four players ended up removed from the ballot after ten failed attempts with each ending with less than 15% of the vote on their last try. SP Brazi Nawaz was the highest of this bunch, peaking at 32.2% in his debut. His ABF tenure had a 2.52 ERA, 123-115 record, 2320 innings, 2282 strikeouts, 451 walks, 119 ERA+, and 39.0 WAR. Not a bad run, but he was never dominant or rarely viewed as truly elite.

CF Cuneyt Solak notably won seven Silver Sluggers over a 13-year ABF career and got as high as 44.7% in 2013. He got hurt for lacking power as a speedy leadoff man. Solak had 2063 hits, 1119 runs, 365 doubles, 193 triples, 100 home runs, 725 RBI, 632 walks, 1016 stolen bases, a .284/.351/.428 slash, 121 wRC+, and 74.1 WAR. Solak retired as the only ABF player with 1000 steals, but that wasn’t an important metric for the voters. He still sits sixth in steals as of 2037.

DH Shahnawaz Ikram won three Silver Sluggers and led in homers and RBI in 1997. He was hurt by both being a career DH and by playing his five final years in WAB, where he notably smacked 66 home runs for Abidjan in 2006. In ABF, Ikram had 1738 hits, 861 runs, 368 doubles, 445 home runs, 1236 RBI, a .271/.293/.546 slash, 139 wRC+, and 42.2 WAR. Ikram had 650 homers and 1739 RBI for his full pro career, which likely gets him in if that was all in ABF. His debut ballot of 29.8% was his highest effort.

Lastly, RF Hasballah Kadoor fell off heaving peaked in 2013 at 23.9%. He was another leadoff type guy who led twice in hits and batting average, while leading thrice in triples. Kadoor had 13 years between Tehran and Tashkent with one Silver Slugger, 1969 hits, 767 runs, 365 doubles, 169 triples, 27 homers, 526 RBI, 509 steals, a .325/.356/.455 slash, 141 wRC+, and 41.5 WAR. Kadoor helped the Tomcats to ABF titles in 2000 and 2002 and still ranks 12^th in batting average as of 2037 among batters with 3000+ plate appearances. However, his lack of power and longevity torpedoed his efforts.