My In-Depth Analysis On My MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

I recently disclosed my MLB Hall of Fame ballot, and I mentioned that I would make an entire article dedicated to just explaining why I picked the players I picked. That’s what I will be doing today. In this article, I will explain all of my 10 picks, and explain in detail exactly why I picked the players I picked. We have 10 players to go through, so let’s dive in.

Bobby Abreu, right fielder, played 1996-2014

I voted for Bobby Abreu based on two key stats. Number one is his career batting average .291. That is almost a .300 career batting average! In his best season (1999), he batted .335! In his second best season (2000), he batted .316. You get the point. He hit for a high average. His second key stat was his bWAR (baseball reference wins above replacement). In his career, his WAR was 60.2. That is elite, even after he tapered in his last season with a -0.5 bWAR. His best season according to WAR was in 2004, when he posted a 6.6 bWAR. Second best was in 1998, where he put up a 6.4 bWAR. Generally, a WAR above 50 is considered very good, and a WAR above 60 is thought to be elite. Not to mention that this guy is a 2x All-Star, HR Derby Champion, Gold Glover, and Silver Slugger.


Carlos Beltrán, centerfielder, played 1998-2017

I don’t think I need to spend too much time on Carlos Beltrán, as he is a no-brainer, but obviously this is meant to be an in-depth analysis, so I’ll explain why I picked him. The guy I mentioned up above (Bobby Abreu) had a 60.1 career baseball-reference WAR. Beltrán is in a very small percentage of players who have a 70.0 or higher career WAR (Beltrán’s bWAR is exactly 70.0). He also is top 50 (he ranks 48) in home runs hit with 435 in his 19 year career. He is also in the top 50 in RBI’s (he’s ranked 41) with 1587. For what it’s worth, he is ranked number 39 in total ABs with 9768. That signals that he was very reliable, and doesn’t get injured often. Beltrán has also won the following awards: Rookie of the Year Winner, 2x All-Star, 2017 World Series Winner, 3x Gold Glove Winner, 2x Silver Slugger, and he won the Roberto Clemente award.


Mark Buehrle, pitcher, played 2000-2015

With Mark Buehrle it was about keeping him on the ballot. Remember: To stay on the ballot, players have to receive 5% of the vote or more. I wanted him to get a fair shot, and not be in the shadows of players like Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones. Don’t get me wrong, he had a great career. He posted a career 59.0 bWAR, and he led the league twice in innings pitched 245.1 and 236.2 in 2004 and 2005 respectively. He led the league in batters faced also in 2004 and 2005 with 1016 and 971. There was one season where he started the most games in the AL, and another season where he started the most games in all of MLB. In 2004, he started 35 games (which led MLB), and in 2008, he started 34 games (which led the league). In 2001, he was the best in the pack in the AL with his 1.066 WHIP. He is also 5x All-Star, a 4x Gold Glover (as a pitcher!!!), and won a World Series with the White Sox in 2005. In my opinion, he deserves to at least have a fair shot at the Hall.


Félix Hernández, pitcher, played 2005-2019

Mark Buehrle and Félix Hernández are kind of in the same boat although you could argue that Mark Buehrle had an objectively better career (and you would probably win that argument). But that is beside the point. The point is that Félix Hernández’s chances of making it into the Hall of Fame are probably slimmer than a lot of these guys, but I think that you still need to give him a chance. Hence why I voted for him. Félix had a career 49.8 bWAR, and a 3.41 ERA. In 2010, he had the best bWAR in all of the AL with 7.2. His best season ERA wise was in 2014 where he posted an AL leading 2.14 ERA. His 2nd best season (in ERA) was in 2010. In that season, he led all of MLB with a 2.27 ERA. Also in 2014, he put up a 0.915 WHIP, which was the best in the AL. Hernández also won a Cy Young, he was a 6x All-Star, and there was an award recognized at the time called the ERA title. He won it twice.


Andruw Jones, center fielder, played 1996-2012

Andruw Jones is another one of those no-brainers. But like I said before, this is an in-depth analysis, so obviously I’ll provide you with my reasoning. Jones had a 62.7 bWAR. Another stat that I found interesting was that he played 160+ games in four seasons (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005). In 1999, he led all of MLB when he played all 162 games. In 2000, he finished with the most PAs and ABs in the NL. He also led the league in RBIs and HRs (he actually led all of MLB in HRs) in 2005. Andruw Jones is top 50 all time in HRs with 434, which ranks him number 49. And who was his agent that represented him? The Boras Corporation. Yep. That super agent known as Scott Boras, who terrorizes teams with his clever contract negotiation tactics to this day. But that is not super realivent. What is relevant is that Jones is a 5x All-Star, 10x Gold Glover, and a Silver Slugger, and he deserves to be a Hall of Famer.


Dustin Pedroia, second baseman, played 2006-2019

Hot take. Dustin Pedroia should be a clear Hall of Famer. He has the same OPS+ as Andruw Jones, and a higher batting average (BA) than Bobby Abreu. Abreu had a .291, and Pedroia had a .299 career BA. Dustin was always a threat to swipe a few bags. He stole 138 bases. He also led the AL in runs scored two years in a row. In 2008, he scored 118 runs, and in 2009, he scored 115 runs. Also in 2008, he was the MLB hits leader with 213. Again in 2008, he also was first in all of MLB in doubles (2Bs). In 2013, he had the most plate appearances (PAs) in the AL. It is super fun that he played with the Red Sox for his whole career (14 seasons). He’s a 4x All-Star, 4x Gold Glover, 2x World Series winner, Silver Slugger, Rookie of the Year award winner, and to top it all off, he was the 2008 MLB MVP. I think I’ve made my point.


Manny Ramírez, outfielder, played 1993-2011

I have no idea why Manny Ramírez is not a UNANIMOUS Hall of Famer. Obviously there was the whole PED thing, but I’ll talk about it in a seperate article.. Manny Ramírez posted a 69.3 career bWAR (with his best season being in 1999 where he put up a 7.3 WAR) which outdoes everybody but Carlos Beltrán. He had a .312 career BA (which is top 50 in baseball). And in his 19 seasons as a big leaguer, he led the AL in HRs once, in BA once, OPS+ once, IBB (Intentional Walks) twice, OBP three times, SLG three times, OPS three times, rOBA four times, and rBAT+ four times. He led all of MLB in RBIs once, and rBAT+ once as well. Yes, he led the league a lot. He also is ranked number 15 on the all time HR leaders with 555. Don’t forget! He won the batting title, was a World Series MVP, has won two World Series’, is a 9x Silver Slugger, and a 12x All-Star. It was also Manny’s last year on the ballot and his last chance to be inducted into the Hall.


Álex Rodríguez, third baseman, played 1994-2016

I could read you so many good stats on A-rod, but what’s super impressive is that he is ranked number 16 in all time MLB WAR leaders. His WAR is 117.4!! He led MLB twice in WAR, and he led the AL in WAR six times! He also led the AL in runs scored five times, and HRs five times. He was top of the pack in a handful of other categories, which I don’t have time to get into now, but you can see for yourself if you visit his baseball-reference page. Rodríguez hit the 5th most HRs in MLB history with his 696 bombs. He’s also ranked number 43 on the all time OPS leaders. His OPS is .930. Álex is also 14x All-Star, 10x Silver Slugger, 2x Gold Glover, he won the World Series in 2009, and he won the batting title. Oh, and I forgot the best part. He won 3 MVP titles. MAN this guy was good!!


Francisco Rodríguez, pitcher, played 2002-2017 

Here’s a little secret: I don’t think Francisco Rodríguez should be in the Hall of Fame. Why am I voting for him? It’s because other people disagree. Other voters do think he deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. And like I said with Mark Buehrle and Félix Hernández, I want to keep players on the ballot to give them a fair shot at getting in. Rodríguez did not have as good of a career as anybody else I voted for, but nevertheless, let’s get into some of his good stats. His career ERA was 2.86 (which, for context is better than Mark Buehrle), and he saved a very respectable (and frankly pretty high) total of 437 games. In 2008, he played the most games in the AL at 76, and in 2005, 2006, and 2008, he saved the most games in the in the AL at 45, 47, and 62 respectivly (in 2005 and 2006, he led all of MLB). His highest SO/9 (strikeouts per 9 innings) percentage is an astounding 20.6!!! He was also a 6x All-Star, and he won the World Series in 2002.


Chase Utley, second baseman, played 2003-2018

In my article where I revealed my MLB Hall of Fame ballot, I called Chase Utley a no-brainer. I take that back. Appearently, I didn’t do enough resarch on him. Now I am setting the record straight. I think that he is an excellant player, and probably a Haller, but not no-brainer. You can decide for yourself though. His career WAR was 64.6, which is more than Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Mark Buehrle, Félix Hernández, Andruw Jones, Dustin Pedroia, and Francisco Rodríguez. In 2006, he led the NL with 131 runs scored. A funky stat is that he led MLB in HBPs (hit by pitches) for three years in row. In 2007, 2008, and 2009 he got hit 25 times, 27 times, and 24 times respectivly. Other than that, he was just a VERY good and consistent big leaguer. He also won a World Series with the Phillies in 2008, was a 4x Sliver Slugger, and a 6x All-Star.

Click here to view the full Hall of Fame voting results and who was inducted, and thanks for reading!