In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
As the off-season churns on, Major League Baseball is looking towards its storied past. That’s right, it’s Hall of Fame voting time once again.
A quick review of the process, via a wonderful summary found at Baseball Reference:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”Baseball Reference HoF procedures summary” link=”http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/hof_voting.shtml” color=”” class=”” size=””]General Summary: Each voting cycle, qualified members of the BBWAA name no more than 10 eligible players whom they consider worthy of Hall of Fame honors. To be enshrined, a player must be named on at least 75% of the voters’ ballots. Currently, players are removed from the ballot if they are named on fewer than 5% of ballots or have been on the ballot 10 times without election.[/perfectpullquote]Which Pittsburgh Pirates player – past or present – will be their next hall of famer?
The Obvious Candidate
Regardless of how you feel about him, 2017 might be the year that Barry Bonds enters the Hall of Fame.
He is tracking at just under 70 percent as of the time of this writing – a figure arrived at by the must-read work of Ryan Thibodaux‘s HOF tracker (see links below) – and has a realistic shot at reaching the 75 percent mark.
Obviously, the numbers are there for Bonds, and a sea change towards he and other accused/suspected PED users has started to occur among voters. Bonds received just 39.27 percent of votes last year, so his rise this year is highly noteworthy.
Since he *is* the obvious candidate, and any Pittsburgh Pirates or baseball fan is well aware of his accomplishments, let’s run through some other candidates.
Jason Kendall
Before we dive into Kendall, we should note how hard it was to find several candidates from the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 20 years of losing.
Jason Bay‘s WAR and accomplishments pale in comparison to other left-fielders/outfielders currently in the hall. The same is true for Brian Giles, whose peak was found over a five-year stretch, two years short of the common ‘seven-year’ criteria many voters live by.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Regardless of how you feel about him, 2017 might be the year that Barry Bonds enters the Hall of Fame.[/perfectpullquote]That leaves us with Kendall, who also has the added bonus of playing at a position that has only 17 current inductees – the second fewest of any position (there are only 16 third basemen enshrined).
The issue with Kendall is not of production – overall he was a fine offensive catcher with a .288/.366/.344 career slashline – but of lack of compilation. Kendall’s total WAR (41.5) and seven-year peak WAR7 (30.3) lag behind the HOF Catcher averages of 52.7 and 34.2 respectively.
Kendall does have one unique factor, and that is his base-running ability. He ranks sixth all-time among catchers with 188 stolen bases, and ninth in runs with 1,088 to go along with three All-Star nods. Still, none of that seems enough to get Kendall on the ballot, much less in the hall. He did not reach the five percent minimum requirement to enter the ballot, so now his fate will rest in the era committee. Just like our next candidate.
Dave Parker
Ask any Pittsburgh Pirates fan who watched the team in the 1970s who their favorite player was, and you will likely receive some combination of Willie Stargell or Roberto Clemente. But perhaps it was Dave Parker who drove the Pirates’ offense.
Parker’s last chance to be voted into the Hall of Fame came and went in 2013 with little fanfare. His exclusion is often cited by those who seek change in the election process.
They may be on to something. Parker’s chances are hurt mainly because he never truly had a seven-year peak. Injuries and off-the-field issues plagued him at different times, resulting in fits and starts of pure dominance.
But from 1975 through 1980 he was a fantastic player, slashing .317/.370/.521. He put up 131 home runs and 559 RBI during that time, winning an MVP in 1978. All told, he led the National League in batting average, slugging percentage and doubles twice.
Some lost years hurt Parker. His WAR and WAR7 figures (39.9 and 37.2) don’t hold up against other right-fielders.
However, there is still a chance that Parker’s start and stop performance can be recognized. The “Era Committee” of the BBWAA can consider candidates like Parker in perpetuity.
It will still be tough sledding, but the benefit of hindsight can vastly help Parker’s chances.
Current and Recent Pittsburgh Pirates
We’ll wrap up by quickly gauging the chances of a few current and recent Pittsburgh Pirates players.
A.J. Burnett – for as much as ‘Batman’ meant to fans through his role in bringing the team back to competitiveness, the numbers are simply not there. Despite his considerable accomplishments and longevity, Burnett only posted WAR and WAR7 totals of 29.2 and 21.5. The 62 starters in the hall average 73.9 and 50.2 respectively.
Andrew McCutchen – if we were writing this post prior to the 2016 season, we may have simply stated that all McCutchen would need to do is stay on his current career trajectory. Prior to 2016, McCutchen posted a 38.2 WAR7 – a figure that lagged a bit behind the HOF CF average of 44.5, but certainly compiling some stats, racking up All-Star nods, etc. could have overcome that. Instead, McCutchen will have to get back to his pre-2016 form in a hurry to have any chance.
Starling Marte – it is ridiculously early to think about Marte’s hall of fame chances, but is it not too early to recognize just how good he has been only 4.5 years into his career. Marte has already put up 21.9 WAR to this point, and he is just 28 years old. That is an excellent start to building a resume that can stand next to other HOF left fielders. Also, Voters may appreciate Marte’s base-running contributions in a stolen base deprived era.
Did we miss someone? let us know in the comments, on Twitter or Facebook.
Baseball Talk on the Web
- As promised, here is a direct link to Thibodaux’s HOF tracker.
- The Reds have signed Drew Storen to a one-year deal.
- Former Tribune-Review Pittsburgh Pirates beat writer Travis Sawchik says hello in his first post at Fangraphs. Good luck, Travis! We’ll be reading.
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