The National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend begins
on Friday and a class of six players will be inducted this weekend in
Cooperstown. In light of Vladimir Guerrero, Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Trevor
Hoffman, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell being enshrined, I decided to make a
starting lineup of active players who are most worthy of being inducted.
Starting Pitcher - Clayton Kershaw: This is a no-brainer
provided his back problems aren’t bothersome for the remainder of his career,
and that might not matter anyway. So far, 2018 has been considered a down year
for Kershaw, and in 14 starts he’s posted a 2.64 ERA, and a WHIP slightly above
1 while striking out about nine hitters per nine innings. I’m not one to put a
ton of value into All-Star voting and award voting, but Kershaw’s already been
to seven All-Star games, finished in the top five in Cy Young Award voting
seven times and won three and has also won an NL MVP award. His postseason struggles
are well-documented, but the regular season resume is far too polished for that
to mean much when it comes to Kershaw and Cooperstown.
Catcher - Yadier Molina: This has been a hotly-debated topic
on MLB Network’s daily talk show MLB Now, hosted by Brian Kenny. Molina’s
offensive output does not suggest he’s anywhere close to a Hall of Famer, as
his lifetime OPS+ is at 99 which is a tick below league average. But, Molina’s
case is similar to another Cardinal in Cooperstown known as The Wizard. Ozzie
Smith was the greatest defensive shortstop in baseball history and Yadier
Molina may go down as the greatest defensive catcher in the history of the
game. Slight nod to Yadi over Buster Posey here.
First Base - Albert Pujols: Pujols is a stone cold lock to
get the call. He’s in the conversation with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank
Thomas and other former inductees as one of the greatest right-handed hitters
of all time.
Second Base - Jose Altuve: He’s only in his eighth season,
so there’s some projecting to do here, but when it’s all said and done, I think
Altuve has a better career than other potential Hall of Famers still active at
second base like Chase Utley or Robinson Cano. Besides, his career OPS+ is
already better than Cano and Utley’s and Altuve is in the prime of his career slashing
.328/.392/.463 thus far in 2018 and posted an 8.3 WAR season last year.
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| Sarah Crabill/Getty Images |
Third Base – Adrian Beltre: Another easy pick here. Beltre’s
advanced stats are good but there’s not much of a need to look beyond his
counting stats. He’s got over 3,100 hits and is currently 33 home runs shy of
the 500 mark. Should he reach 500 homers, he’d become just the seventh player
to record both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.
Shortstop - Francisco Lindor: Yeah, he’s only 24 years old.
But he’s the best shortstop in baseball and if not him, who? The majority of
the better shortstops in the game today are young anyway. Plus, Lindor gets
bonus points for the stirrups.
Left Fielder - Giancarlo Stanton: Admittedly, I cheated a little bit
here by picking three outfielders regardless of where they normally play in the
outfield. But, the All-Star game lineups are similar in that way sometimes as
fans can choose any three outfielders on their ballots. So I’m tossing Stanton
in left and feeling pretty good about his 145 OPS+ in the lineup. He’s had some
injuries during his time in Miami, but should he stay healthy in pinstripes, he
should be able to produce long enough to warrant election.
Center Fielder – Mike Trout: Where do we start when
discussing the Millville, New Jersey native’s career to date? The astonishing thing
each season is that Trout keeps finding ways to improve, as if he hadn’t already
crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s.
In two weeks he’ll turn…27. He’ll
go down as one of the best to ever do it.
Right Fielder – Bryce Harper: So I thought about Mookie
Betts here, given what Betts is doing this season. But Harper’s first six
seasons are too good to ignore, despite his significant dip in batting average this
year. And he’s still hitting lots of homers this year and walking a ton.
That’s all I got. Check back in 20 years to see how I did.
Photo: https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/7/31/16029570/adrian-beltre-encyclopedia
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