The Baseball Writers Association of America announced the 2019 Hall of Fame voting results on Tuesday. Four players -- Mariano Rivera (first-ever unanimous choice), Mike Mussina, Roy Halladay and Edgar Martinez -- were elected and will be officially inducted once July rolls around. Larry Walker again fell shy of the 75-percent threshold necessary for enshrinement, setting the stage for next winter, when he'll be on the ballot for the 10th and final time.

Walker, whose main blemish as a candidate is the time he spent in Coors Field, received a vote on 54.6 percent of ballots. This marks the most vote share he'd ever received, and is a substantial improvement over his previous percentages. Take a look:

  • 2011: 20.3 percent
  • 2012: 22.9 percent
  • 2013: 21.6 percent
  • 2014: 10.2 percent
  • 2015: 11.8 percent
  • 2016: 15.5 percent
  • 2017: 21.9 percent
  • 2018: 34.1 percent
  • 2019: 54.6 percent

While that's good news for Walker, the bad news is he'll have to post a bigger year-to-year improvement next year if he's to earn entrance into Cooperstown. It's not impossible, but it does seem unlikely based on similar cause célèbre candidates.

Edgar Martinez, for example, saw his percentage jump from 58.6 percent to 70.4 percent before being inducted this year with 85.4 percent. Tim Raines went from 55 percent to 86 percent in two ballots, but even his healthy 10th year gains (about 16 percentage points) wouldn't be enough to Walker into the Hall. Bert Blyleven, meanwhile, never improved by more than 15 percentage points.

That four players were inducted this year should help thin out a crowded ballot, working in Walker's favor. Alas, it's not clear that an argument led by park factors -- a concept that might be deemed too esoteric for some voters -- will be enough to swing the naysayers.

Walker should almost certainly be in the Hall of Fame for reasons we've laid out before. But we're not optimistic he's going to get in -- not by this process, anyway.