[FuzzyRussianHat]

For the second time in five years, Major League Baseball didn’t add any players into the Hall of Fame. This was only the fourth blank ballot since the 1970s. A lack of impressive debuts was part of it, with the top debutants being RF Olen Lack at 54.3% and SP Victor Burke at 51.6%.



The only player to crack 60% was SS Robert Hightower. However, his 62.2% sixth ballot was just shy of the 66% requirement for induction. Other players that were above 50% were C Sebastian Van Velzen with 58.9% on his third try, C Brayan Varela at 58.1% in his fourth go, SP Qazi Khwaja at 55.4% in his tenth ballot, and RF Jameson Hughes at 54.3% for his second attempt.

For Khwaja, he simply wasn’t in MLB quite long enough to get across the line. The Pakistani righty played his first seven years in the Asian Baseball Federation with Karachi, winning Pitcher of the Year in 1992. Khwaja then came to MLB and Chicago in 1994, winning 1999 POTY with the Cubs. He also had a Triple Crown in 1994 with a 22-9 record, 1.99 ERA, and 296 strikeouts. Khawaja’s final five years came with Houston.

Just in MLB, Khwaja had a 189-126 record, 3.07 ERA, 2905 innings, 2611 strikeouts, 702 walks, 120 ERA+, and 65.2 WAR. It was certainly a Hall of Fame pace, but his few years back home in Pakistan kept his accumulations just low enough for some voters. Khwaja peaked in his final ballot at 55.4% with his lowest at 44.7% in 2014. He couldn’t get above 30% in his ABF HOF tries.

For his entire pro career, Khwaja had a 293-210 record, 2.95 ERA, 4598.2 innings, 4641 strikeouts, 1095 walks, 399 quality starts, 192 complete games, 51 shutouts, 118 ERA+, and 113.7 WAR. Ultimately it was timing and not his talent that kept Khwaja on the outside. He was the only player in 2019 dropped from the MLB ballot after ten failed attempts