Get ready for a Chase Utley speech in Cooperstown one day in the not too distant future.

When the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Class announcement came down, it was not a surprise to see Ichiro Suzuki (one vote away from 100 percent!), CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner enshrined. All are deserving. All were on my hypothetical ballot WIP Daily.

But my first look at the full voting totals went toward Utley, the former Phillies star in his second year of eligibility. One year after garnering 28.8 percent of the vote, Utley jumped to 39.8 percent.

As Utley closes in on 40 percent of the 75 percent of the vote necessary for induction, let’s look at some context around his path in and guess which year busloads of Phillies fans will be on their way to take over small town in New York.

Utley is still likely a few years away from the top of the mountain, but closer than you might have thought he’d be this soon during his 10-year eligibility run. Through two years on the ballot, Utley (39.8 to 22.6) is far ahead of Scott Rolen’s percentage. By receiving nearly 30 percent of the vote last year, Utley started off ahead of where Hall of Famers like Larry Walker (20.3%) and Todd Helton (16.5%) did in year one. Adding another big jump just cements the path.

As we look forward, there’s a path for a couple more big jumps in the coming years due to a lack of slam-dunk candidates on future ballots. In 2026, Cole Hamels and Ryan Braun are the two biggest names to hit the ballot. In 2027, Buster Posey will be an Utley-esque case of new school vs. old-school criteria. I’d vote him in immediately, but he’s far from an Adrian Beltre/Suzuki first-ballot, 90-plus percent lock.

I’d guess jumps over 50 and 60 percent in the next two years for Utley, putting him on the precipice for induction in 2028 or 2029.

As for Jimmy Rollins’ path (we can’t talk about one without the other): Last night’s 18 percent (up from 14.8 one year ago) wasn’t a setback, but this is going to be more of an uphill climb. I loved watched Rolling play, especially on defense, but have never thought he’s a Hall of Famer. For me, he was one notch below. But I’ll be rooting for him to make it.

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