Hoffman on bubble with nearly half of HOF ballot public

The Hall of Fame is set to unveil the class of 2018 on Wednesday, and with nearly half of the ballot public, closer Trevor Hoffman needs a significant portion of the private voters to come through to guarantee his enshrinement.

While Hoffman's case will come down to the wire, four other players are more likely to hear their names announced in the middle of the week. Chipper Jones, Vlad Guerrero, and Jim Thome all have more than 90 percent of the public vote. Edgar Martinez is hovering around 80 percent, with 75 percent required to have a plaque in Cooperstown.

(Courtesy: Ryan Thibodaux)

Thibodaux, who runs the Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Tracker, estimates that 424 ballots will be cast in total. With the estimate in mind, Hoffman will need 73 percent of the private voters to name him to their ballots. Martinez isn't that far ahead, either, and will need 70.7 percent of the remaining electorate to select his name.

While Johan Santana and Johnny Damon both entertained votes, each currently sits below the minimum five-percent threshold to continue appearing on the ballot. Both are likely to fall off of the ballot in their first year of eligibility.

Meanwhile, at 6.4 percent, Andruw Jones could find himself off of the ballot in his first year as well. Gary Sheffield also sits relatively close to elimination, drawing 9.9 percent of the public vote.

Of note, both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens appear to have taken steps forward in their sixth year of eligibility. Both sit roughly ten percentage points ahead of last year's showing - each boasting 63.9 percent of the public vote. That being said, private voters are typically less inclined to vote for suspected PED users - or have trended that way in the past.