The wait for another Astros cap in Cooperstown will extend another year.

Only one thing is assured when the Baseball Hall of Fame reveals its 2020 class on Tuesday: Shortstop Derek Jeter will be included. Outfielder Larry Walker, whose 10th year on the ballot represents his last chance with the writers, is also trending favorably.

Roger Clemens will again flirt with the 75 percent of votes required for induction while Curt Schilling, the highest vote-getter of any non-elected player last year, could creep closer to induction.

Clemens and Schilling played briefly for the Astros, but the thought of either being enshrined in a Houston hat is far-fetched. The Astros’ next legitimate chance to celebrate comes in the form of a closer, one trying to crack a tiny subset of an already exclusive club.

Billy Wagner was named on 73 of the first 210 ballots (34.8 percent) revealed to Hall of Fame projection guru Ryan Thibodaux. Last year, the fireballing former Astros closer was selected on just 64 of the 425 total ballots cast — good for 17.9 percent of the vote.

Among the 202 non-anonymous ballots in Thibodaux’s tabulations, 37 returning voters added Wagner after not voting for him last season.

Wagner enters Tuesday primed to perhaps double his vote percentage from 2019. He will have four more years of eligibility remaining, offering hope of another Astros enshrinement in the near future. On Saturday, Wagner was elected to the Astros Hall of Fame.

“Wagner made the cut this year — his fifth on the ballot — and will remain there,” wrote Dan Connolly, an Orioles beat reporter for The Athletic who added Wagner to his ballot this season.

“He was one of the best and most dominating closers of his generation, and I’ve already voted for the other two at the front of that conversation: Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. An argument can be made that Wagner was better — or at least equal to — Hoffman.”

The group of Hall of Fame relievers is small, a select list of men among whom Wagner compares favorably — even though he never led his league in saves.

Wagner’s 0.997 career WHIP is lower than that of Hoffman and Dennis Eckersley. His 2.31 ERA is more than half a run lower than Lee Smith’s. Wagner had 422 career saves. The only three men with more — Rivera, Hoffman and Smith — are Hall of Famers.

Armed with a high-90s four-seam fastball to complement his devastating slider, Wagner struck out 11.92 per nine innings and held opponents to a .187 batting average. Both remain the best career totals of any major league pitcher who threw a minimum of 900 innings. Wagner threw 903 innings and struck out 1,196.

“He struck out 33.2 percent of all the batters he faced and amassed a WAR almost equal to Trevor Hoffman and Lee Smith while being more dominant in almost every way,” said Seattle Times Mariners writer Ryan Divish, who added Wagner to his ballot.

Wagner’s detractors will diminish his candidacy for two primary reasons. His postseason numbers were wretched — three home runs, 21 hits and a 10.03 ERA in 112/3 innings — especially when held to Rivera’s unattainable standard.

More damning is Wagner’s lack of longevity. He threw just 14 full major league seasons and 903 innings. Hoffman and Smith each had an 18-year career that included more than 1,080 innings. Rivera finished with 1,2832/3 innings across his 19-year career.

Wagner retired at 38 after an All-Star season with the Atlanta Braves in 2010. He cited the need to spend more time with family, with whom he’d rehabilitated from Tommy John surgery in 2008.

“He was a strikeout machine and dominant enough to make me overlook that he didn’t hit some of the benchmark figures for longevity,” said Dan Hayes, who covers the Minnesota Twins for The Athletic and added Wagner to his ballot this year.

“I was on board with Trevor Hoffman throughout his candidacy and feel like Wagner exceeds him in some areas. With several extra spots open on the ballot this year, I finally had space and feel that Wagner is deserving.”

Jeter was named on all 210 ballots that had been revealed as of Monday, giving him a chance to duplicate Mariano Rivera’s 2019 feat of being elected by every voter, a Hall of Fame first. Walker stood at 83.3 percent, with Schilling at 79 percent. Voters who don’t publicize their ballots tend to wind up lowering percentages, meaning Schilling is no guarantee for election in his eighth year on the ballot.

Clemens and home run king Barry Bonds, two all-time greats suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs, will likely fall short of election again, though both are trending upward at 71 and 71.9 percent, respectively. They too are on their eighth ballot and might have a chance at enshrinement next year, when there will be no bona fide Hall candidates among players eligible for the first time.

chandler.rome@chron.com

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