Active Hall of Famers to Play Again

Editor's Note: This is the second of three stories we're rolling out on the active players with interesting Hall of Fame cases. We covered infielders on Fri and we'll encompass designated hitters and pitchers on Tuesday.

The outfield is a lone place. It tin can feel like an island of grass out there, with only heckling fans within shouting altitude and no one to back you up if a grounder goes through your legs. Information technology takes a special sort of actor to thrive at that place, and many of baseball'due south best have called it home: Henry Aaron, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Mickey Pall, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth. Mike Trout, the greatest player of this era, does, too. And so do 5 of the concluding eight MVPs. Equally such, there are quite a few agile players building impressive Hall of Fame résumés. Allow's talk about them.

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As I mentioned in part 1, this "team" we're building isn't about players on track to be first-ballot inductees; it's about the deadline cases. So, allow's become the guys in their ain class out of the style.

Trout would exist inducted if he retired tomorrow to chase his true passion of meteorology. Bryce Harper and Mookie Betts aren't quite there yet, only neither turns thirty until October. Harper's second MVP and Betts'due south five-tool dominance—not just in the sense of his skills, but in terms of his five Silver Sluggers, five Gold Gloves, 5 All-Star nods (in addition to his MVP and two runner-up finishes)—have them on a aureate path to Cooperstown. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto have already secured Globe Serial rings and look prepare to terrorize the NL East for the adjacent decade-plus—assuming the Nationals lock up the mod version of Ted Williams—and accept showcased generational talent since before they could legally drink at the ballpark bar. (Information technology is worth noting that Acuña missed half of last flavor with a torn ACL, and then he could not play while the Braves fabricated their surprising World Serial run.) Injuries are the simply thing I'm worried about with either of them, and that's no fun to think about. I'm including them amidst my HOF picks for now, while acknowledging here that they have played but four seasons and even so have a long way to become.

Now, let's move on to the players whose cases we'll most likely be debating 20 years from now. Might as well become an early offset, right?

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Left field: Christian Yelich

This is the least glamorous outfield position. The fleetest of feet typically cover the vast expanse of heart field, and the strongest artillery reside in right to gun downwards sneaky baserunners trying to get from first to third on a single. Left field is for whoever is left over. There are actually more than master left fielders (21) enshrined in the Hall than there are center fielders (xix). Well, at least for at present. While Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltrán and Trout shortly are likely to increase the latter figure, there aren't whatever slam-douse left-field candidates, especially if Soto sticks in correct going forward.

The most likely inductee is Yelich, who'due south entering his historic period-30 season with simply 160 habitation runs and 33.4 War, roughly half the amount of the average left fielder in Cooperstown. The face of the Brewers is hurt past a slow start to his career in Miami and subsequent abrupt decline over the by ii seasons. Yelich has an MVP trophy from 2018, a runner-up stop the post-obit season when he was fifty-fifty better (he and Bryce Harper were the only hitters to post a single-flavor OPS of at least one.100 in the '10s, and he and Larry Walker are the merely 2 since 1930 to do and then while stealing at least 30 bases), and and so … no other campaigns with more 21 habitation runs or an OPS above .859. His odds aren't looking groovy, but if he can rebound for a prolonged menses and show that his dorsum injury last flavor was the root of his ability outage, he'll likely pulsate upwardly enough support to at least stay on the ballot for a while.

Another affair to consider is which not-left fielders might cease up at the position long term. Past some metrics, Kris Bryant grades out every bit a better defender in left than at third base. If his next team moves him off the hot corner and into left, he could besides exist included on this list of borderline guys.

HOF picks: Soto

He's got potential: Yelich, Michael Brantley, Kris Bryant*

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Center field: Andrew McCutchen

McCutchen accomplished something no other role player has been able to practice ever since Barry Bonds left Pittsburgh; he made the Pirates watchable, for a time. The 2013 NL MVP made v All-Star teams, won four Argent Sluggers and a Gilded Glove and finished in the top five of MVP voting four times during his time in black and gold. The Pirates' merely three playoff teams since 1992 were fronted past McCutchen, and he fifty-fifty helped the squad with his divergence, as his 2018 trade to the Giants (remember that?) brought '21 All-Star Bryan Reynolds to Pittsburgh. With 270 abode runs and 197 stolen bases in his career, he's close to becoming the 26th member of the 300/200 club, nine of which are Hall of Famers (a number that'd be closer to 15 if some weren't stained by suspected PED usage). "Cutch" is likewise one of the about well-respected players in the majors, having won the Roberto Clemente Award in '15.

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All that said, he's a long shot to exist voted in by the writers. McCutchen ranks 35th best in JAWS among center fielders, below Dale Murphy (who remained on the ballot for the maximum of 15 years simply never topped 23.2%) and Bernie Williams (who fell off after two years). The 35-yr-old may not be able to earn an everyday outfield task in 2022 after logging -x defensive runs saved as Philadelphia'due south master left fielder last flavor. His 27 home runs and 109 OPS+ signal there's still some pop in his bat, especially against lefties (.293/.405/.622 slash line confronting LHP in '21), but information technology's for the all-time if information technology comes from the designated hitter slot in the lineup.

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At the very to the lowest degree, Cutch is a Hall of Fame athlete when information technology comes to using Twitter (although, I really wish he would've elaborated more in this ambiguous tweet later the Hall of Fame voting results were announced last week).

I'd also keep my middle on Luis Robert. The 24-yr-old was once hailed every bit the next Mike Trout by teammate Eloy Jiménez, a comparison that was subsequently backed up by Hall of Famer Frank Thomas and White Sox director Tony La Russa. He obviously hasn't come out of the gates that strong in his first two seasons. But when he wasn't sidelined by a torn hip flexor concluding year, Robert slashed .338/.378/.567 and deemed for 3.6 WAR in merely 68 games. No one under 25 had always accumulated that much State of war in such few games during the live-ball era. It'due south certainly a stretch to project him for the Hall at this stage, but if you squint and combine the strides he fabricated at the plate in 2021 with the stiff defence force in center that won him a Gold Glove in '20, you tin can see what Jiménez, Thomas and La Russa were so excited about.

HOF picks: Trout

He's got potential: McCutchen, Robert

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Right field: Aaron Estimate

Every fourth dimension Gauge has played at least 120 games, he's won a Silver Slugger and finished in the summit 5 of MVP voting. Sounds similar an inner-circle Hall of Famer, correct? Well, unfortunately, due to a string of injuries to his wrist, oblique, ribs and dogie, that'due south only happened twice in his five MLB seasons. The quondam beginning-circular choice also got a bit of a late starting time to his career, as he didn't boom down a starting job until his age-25 season. That'due south a devastating combination for anyone'south Cooperstown case.

If at that place's anyone who can overcome it, though, Judge is a decent bet. The towering slugger prepare the MLB rookie tape with 52 home runs (which was cleaved 2 years later by Pete Alonso), won the 2017 AL Rookie of the Year award and finished second to Jose Altuve in AL MVP voting—an award which is at present somewhat tainted. He'due south one of but seven players over the last twoscore years (minimum 2,000 plate appearances) with a career OPS+ of at least 150. The others are Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Manny Ramírez, Trout and Soto. An underrated defender, Judge led all right fielders in defensive runs saved (19) in '19 and won a Fielding Bible award last flavor.

Because Judge holds courtroom in the Bronx—and in that location'due south no mode the Yankees let him walk when he's a gratuitous agent next offseason, correct?—we tin assume he'll have some opportunities to bolster his case with clutch postseason moments (although considering the Yankees oasis't won a title in 12 years, perhaps maybe nosotros shouldn't). On the other paw, it'd be a risky supposition to recall an injury-decumbent role player volition become more healthy in his 30s. Guess, who turns xxx in April, will remain a power threat as long as he'southward in the league, but he projects to come up up brusque on the counting stats favored past voters due to how much time he spends in the trainers' room.

Judge's teammate, Giancarlo Stanton, has played well-nigh of his career games in right field to this indicate, only when information technology's all over, he could exist considered more of a DH than an outfielder. Preview of what'southward to come up on Tuesday? Y'all'll accept to come back to observe out. For now, he'due south under the "he's got potential" here.

HOF picks: Harper, Betts, Acuña

He's got potential: Judge, George Springer, Stanton*

More than MLB Coverage:
• The Infield of Agile Players Closest to the Cooperstown Cutting Line
• WAR Is Not the Solution for Baseball'south Labor Woes
• Carlos Beltrán'southward Eligibility Offers New Ethical Dilemma for Hall of Fame Voters
• Integrity All the same Matters for the Hall of Fame

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Source: https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/01/31/baseball-hall-of-fame-active-outfielders

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