SP METS SCIARRINO

Is the third time on the Hall of Fame ballot the charm for former Mets catcher Mike Piazza? (ROBERT SCIARRINO/ STAR-LEDGER. HSSPORTS)

It looks promising for catching great Mike Piazza, who finished 74 votes shy of becoming a Baseball Hall of Famer last year. The same goes for 3000-hit member Craig Biggio, who missed by just two votes in 2014.

And, as expected, it appears first-ballot pitchers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez probably will get in close to unanimously, and John Smoltz will get in with ease.

Going by 154 BBWAA voters who already have shared their ballots, the Class of 2015 will be five strong when the results are announced at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Kudos to baseballthinkfactory.org for tracking down the results of BBWAA voters who have made their votes public (which is not required at any point) before the official announcement.

Last year, 571 ballots were turned in. Assuming there were roughly the same amount of voters this season, then the early tabulations are for about 27 percent of the votes.

A player needs 75 percent of the votes for election.

Piazza, a career .308 hitter 427 homers in a 16-year career mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets, would get in with 76.6 percent of the vote based on the early results after getting 62.2 percent last year, up from 57.8 when he was first eligible in 2013.

Here are some interesting results based off results posted by baseballthinkfactory.org:

• Eleven of the 17 returnees to the ballot were showing increase in percentage of votes, the biggest jumps belonging to pitcher Curt Schilling and outfielder Tim Raines.

• Of the six players falling in percentage, making the biggest drop was closer Lee Smith.

• Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, two players kept out in past seasons due to their alleged PED usage, are getting a higher percentage of votes (67 votes each) but still won't come close to getting in this year.

• This could be the ninth and last time slugger Mark McGwire is on the ballot. McGwire, who admitted using PEDs, received 11.0 percent of votes last year, but early results this year show him at 4.3 percent. Players need 5 percent to remain on the ballot.

• Yankees great Don Mattingly is getting very little support in his 15th and final time on the ballot. He was at 8.2 percent last year and was at just 4.5 percent through this year's early results.

• Former Yankees outfielder Tim Raines and pitcher Mike Mussina are getting far more support this year, which seemingly increases their chances of getting elected down the road.

• Of the 17 newcomers on the ballot, only six received any votes. Besides Johnson, Martinez and Smoltz – locks to get in – outfielder Gary Sheffield received 13 votes (8.7 percent), while shortstop Nomar Garciaparra and first baseman Carlos Delgado received one vote apiece (0.7 percent).

• Pete Rose, baseball’s banned hit king, received two write-in votes that won’t be counted because he’s ineligible for induction.

Here are the early results:

RANDY JOHNSON

(1st ballot)

2015 early results: 152 of 154 votes, 98.7 percent

PEDRO MARTINEZ

(1st ballot)

2015 early results: 150 of 154 votes, 97.4 percent

JOHN SMOLTZ

(1st ballot)

2015 early results: 134 of 154 votes, 87 percent

CRAIG BIGGIO

(3rd ballot)

2015 early results: 127 of 154 votes, 82.5 percent

2014 results: 427 of 581 votes, 74.4 percent

Change: Increase 7.7 percent

MIKE PIAZZA

(3rd ballot)

2015 early results: 118 of 154 votes, 76.6 percent

2014 results: 355 of 581 votes, 62.2 percent

Change: Increase 14.5 percent

TIM RAINES

(8th ballot)

2015 early results: 104 of 154 votes, 67.5 percent

2014 results: 263 of 581 votes, 46.1 percent

Change: increase 21.4 percent

JEFF BAGWELL

(5th ballot)

2015 early results: 102 of 154 votes, 66.2 percent

2014 results: 310 of 581 votes, 54.3 percent

Change: Down 11.7 percent

CURT SCHILLING

(3rd ballot)

2015 early results: 81 of 154 votes, 52.6 percent

2014 results: 167 of 581 votes, 29.2 percent

Change: increase 23.4 percent

BARRY BONDS

(3rd ballot)

2015 early results: 67 of 154 votes, 43.5 percent

2014 results: 198 of 581 votes, 34.7 percent

Change: increase 9.8 percent

ROGER CLEMENS

(3rd ballot)

2015 early results: 67 of 154 votes, 43.5 percent

2014 results: 202 of 581 votes, 35.4 percent

Change: increase 8.1 percent

MIKE MUSSINA

(2nd ballot)

2015 early results: 58 of 154 votes, 37.7 percent

2014 results: 116 of 581 votes, 20.3 percent

Change: increase 17.4 percent

EDGAR MARTINEZ

(6th ballot)

2015 early results: 44 of 154 votes, 28.6 percent

2014 results: 144 of 581 votes, 25.2 percent

Change: increase 3.4 percent

ALAN TRAMMELL

(14th ballot)

2015 early results: 37 of 154 votes, 24.0 percent

2014 results: 119 of 581 votes, 20.8 percent

Change: increase 3.2 percent

LEE SMITH

(13th ballot)

2015 early results: 28 of 154 votes, 18.2 percent

2014 results: 171 of 581 votes, 29.9 percent

Change: down 11.7 percent

FRED McGRIFF

(6th ballot)

2015 early results: 24 of 154 votes, 15.6 percent

2014 results: 67 of 581 votes, 11.7 percent

Change: increase 3.9 percent

JEFF KENT

(2nd ballot)

2015 early results: 22 of 154 votes, 14.3 percent

2014 results: 87 of 581 votes, 15.2 percent

Change: Down 0.9 percent

LARRY WALKER

(5th ballot)

2015 early results: 13 of 154 votes, 8.4 percent

2014 results: 58 of 581 votes, 10.2 percent

Change: Down 1.5 percent

GARY SHEFFIELD

(1st ballot)

2015 early results: 13 of 154 votes, 8.7 percent

MARK McGWIRE

(9th ballot)

2015 early results: 10 of 154 votes, 6.5 percent

2014 results: 63 of 581 votes, 11.0 percent

Change: Down 4.5 percent

SAMMY SOSA

(3rd ballot)

2015 early results: 7 of 154 votes, 4.5 percent

2014 results: 41 of 581 votes, 7.2 percent

Change: Down 2.7 percent

DON MATTINGLY

(15th ballot)

2015 early results: 7 of 154 votes, 4.5 percent

2014 results: 47 of 581 votes, 8.2 percent

Change: Down 3.5 percent

NOMAR GARCIAPARRA

(1st ballot)

2015 early results: 1 of 154 votes, 0.6 percent

CARLOS DELGADO

(1st ballot)

2015 early results: 1 of 150 votes, 0.6 percent

2015 Hall of Fame candidates 17 Gallery: 2015 Hall of Fame candidates

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com Philadelphia Sports on Facebook.