One of the game's elder statesmen reached a milestone statistic yesterday. Omar Vizquel, the 43 year old third baseman for the White Sox nabbed his 2,800th hit.
This places him 47th on the all time list, between George Sisler (2,812) and Ken Griffey, Jr (2,781). Pretty lofty company, it would seem. Of the 46 guys ahead of Vizquel on the list, only 7 of them are not in the Hall of Fame. Number 1 on the list is, of course, Pete Rose (Hey UW-Madison crew, next time you see Bud in the faculty lounge why don't you ask him about ol' Charlie Hustle). Two other guys, Derek Jeter (#35: 2,928) and Pudge Rodriguez (#45: 2,817) are still active players. The other 4 are Craig Biggio (#20: 3,060), Rafael Palmeiro (#24: 3,020), Barry Bonds (#31: 2,935) and Harold Baines (#41: 2,866). Whatever your personal feelings about some of these guys are, when the two active guys retire, and some of the retired guys become eligible, I think its pretty safe to say that most of the 6 (not including Rose, whose enshrinement obviously has nothing to do with talent, numbers, etc) are going to be Hall of Famers. Does this mean that Omar Vizquel deserves consideration for the Hall of Fame? Sorry Tribe fans, but I don't think so. If we take a closer look at Vizquel's numbers in comparison to some other modern middle infielders who have been enshrined, including his Indians teammate, Robbie Alomar, and we include Biggio, Jeter and Barry Larkin, he just doesn't stack up.
Avg OBP Slug% Games Hits
Vizquel .273 .338 .354 2851 2801
Ripken .276 .340 .447 3001 3184
Yount .285 .342 .430 2856 3142
Alomar .300 .371 .443 2379 2724
Biggio .281 .363 .433 2850 3060
Jeter .314 .384 .452 2297 2928
Larkin .295 .371 .444 2180 2340
I've kept this pretty basic, since I think we can all agree that the BBWAA doesn't really dig to deep into Sabermetrics when filling out their HoF ballots. Vizquel falls short in all three / categories to every single guy on this list. His closest comp is Biggio, who still outslugs him by almost a hundred points and got on base at a greater clip. Putting his career into some context, he was never really close to being the best shortstop in the game. During his peak years, there probably aren't too many fans or GM's out there who would have taken Vizquel over A-Rod, Jeter, Nomar, Larkin or Miguel Tejada. The one chip that Vizquel's supporters are going to have is Ozzie Smith.
BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ SB
Omar .273 .338 .354 .692 83 400
Ozzie .262 .337 .328 .666 87 580
The Wizard was lower across the board than Vizquel, although adjusted for the cavernous Busch Stadium that Ozzie called home, they are about even, with both of them coming in under 100 in OPS +. Smith had 180 more Stolen Bases, though there was more running in that era, 2 more Gold Gloves (13-11), and a Silver Slugger in 1987. Putting Ozzie's career into context, however, makes him look much stronger. Smith had a career WAR of 64.6 to Vizquel's 43.1, despite playing 3 fewer seasons. Smith played in 15 All Star games to Vizquel's 3. Smith also finished in the top 25 of MVP voting 6 times, with a runner up in 1987 while Vizquel did so only once, finishing 16th in 1999. I'll admit that the awards are subjective, but it's pretty clear that Ozzie was one one of the top SS of his era. Still the numbers are what they are, pretty close. Let's keep in mind that Ozzie is not only a Hall of Famer, but a first ballot Hall of Famer receiving votes on 92% of ballots, which leads to my last point.
Ozzie Smith was a genuine star. The camera loved the guy and so did fans. It is called the Hall of Fame, after all, and not the Hall of Great Statistics, and Omar Vizquel just doesn't come close to Ozzie in star power. So despite having a pretty decent comp in 1st ballot HoFer Ozzie Smith and having some cumulative numbers that rank with the all time greats, Omar Vizquel is going to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the Hall of Fame.
If you go by WAR, he's had a good but not great career: 48.5 WAR. And almost all of that is due to his fielding; his career wOBA is .313, well below average. No chance. I think of all the players who deserve a shot at the Hall (in part) due to their fielding, Andruw Jones is the probably the most deserving. Of course, he also has 400 career Home Runs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, are you familiar with the Keltner List? Bill James popularized it in 1985, and it's a pretty good way of evaluating who deserves in and who doesn't. Not sure, though, how many questions you should answer in the affirmative for the player to be deserving of the Hall. Here are the 15 questions:
Was he ever regarded as the best player in baseball? Did anybody, while he was active, ever suggest that he was the best player in baseball?
Was he the best player on his team?
Was he the best player in baseball at his position? Was he the best player in the league at his position?
Did he have an impact on a number of pennant races?
Was he a good enough player that he could continue to play regularly after passing his prime?
Is he the very best player in baseball history who is not in the Hall of Fame?
Are most players who have comparable career statistics in the Hall of Fame?
Do the player's numbers meet Hall of Fame standards?
Is there any evidence to suggest that the player was significantly better or worse than is suggested by his statistics?
Is he the best player at his position who is eligible for the Hall of Fame but not in?
How many MVP-type seasons did he have? Did he ever win an MVP award? If not, how many times was he close?
How many All-Star-type seasons did he have?
How many All-Star games did he play in?
Did most of the other players who played in this many go to the Hall of Fame?
If this man were the best player on his team, would it be likely that the team could win the pennant?
What impact did the player have on baseball history?
Was he responsible for any rule changes? Did he introduce any new equipment? Did he change the game in any way?
Did the player uphold the standards of sportsmanship and character that the Hall of Fame, in its written guidelines, instructs us to consider?
Vizquel is the Jamie Moyer of infielders.
ReplyDeleteAdam- I had seen the Keltner list a while back, in reference to Jim Rice, I think, but I had forgotten about it. I think I did pretty much try to hit on most of those points.
ReplyDeleteCharlie- exactly. Some of my more Phanatic brethren insist that if Jaime comes back and somehow gets to 300 wins, he should be a lock. But I think its pretty obvious that cumulative stats, especially one so out of an individual's control as Wins, should not be the deciding factor.