2016 Baseball Hall of Fame Nominees

I said if he keeps it up. Another decade of doing what he has been doing and he will have a case. Obviously with a catcher that's hard to predict.

 

What has Perez done that is special? Very good defender with some pop, but he has no patience and pitchers have figured that out, which is probably why he went from a .300 hitter when he first came up to batting .260 each of the last two seasons.

Perez is a nice player, but 10 more years of this maybe gets him into the Hall of Very Good. Nothing more.

 

At 25 with three full years in the bigs he has three all-star games, three gold gloves and a World Series MVP with several huge postseason moments. He got to 500 hits quite a bit faster than Rodriguez and heading into his prime years his offensive numbers compare pretty well to Carter and Fisk.

It was probably pointless of me to bring him up this early in his career when so much can happen, but at this point he's on track to make it interesting.

 

Way too early and he has to be better than what he has shown so far. I know you are excited about your team, and rightfully so, but I think perhaps you are getting carried away with this one.

Baseballreference.com's most similar player to Perez is Johnny Estrada. Most similar through age 25 is Rich Gedman.

 

So say a catcher finishes his career a 10-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glover, .260 average, Top 3 at the position in hits, around 300 homers with postseason success and awards? Not in the discussion?

 

You're assuming he is going to keep making all-star games while batting .260 every year. You're also assuming he is going to keep compiling hits at that rate, which is a stretch given that the guy has already had problems with his knees. No, I don't think he's good enough right now to belong in any serious Hall of Fame discussion. I also think he has gone backward as a hitter because pitchers figured out he will swing at anything.

 

He's gotten better at laying off pitches and his power is increasing. I think he's probably about a .260-.270, 20-25 homer guy going forward, but who knows.

I aknowledge it's all based on big ifs, just pointing out the start of his career has been as good or better than many of the Hall of Famers at that position.

 

Look again at the comparable guys on baseballreference.com. Also, that power projection would be an improvement. At this point, he has only reached 20 home runs once in his career.

 

Bill James said it long ago, and as a former voter, I know a lot of voters, me included, follow this guide. Was the player regarded as the best or one of the best at his position during his career? Catcher is one position where metrics have changed dramatically one way or the other through history. because defense is as or more important than offense. John Roseboro, who couldn't hit a lick, but who caught won of the top five statts in history, was the perennial National League All-Star catcher in the first half of the '60s. Then came Johnny Bench. IF American League catchers stay as they are for the next 20 years, Perez would be an outstanding candidate.

 

I don't think he'll ever be up there with Bench and Berra, but finishing with offensive numbers comparable to Fisk, Carter and Campanella is certainly possible.

He could also take a foul ball off the chin in spring training and never catch another game. Who knows?

 

I do think we are in an era in which more is expected of a catcher to be at a Hall of Fame level than just defense. Also, Perez isn't going to be compared only to other AL catchers. If we are talking about his era, that means comparing him to Buster Posey, and that isn't even close.

 

Yeah, but from your tone, it's almost like you're implying that he's some bum at the plate. I think he's probably average. A dozen years of stellar defense and average offense, with a bunch of all-star games, and he has an interesting case. As others have pointed out, a million things could and probably will go wrong between now and when he retires. But it's not insane that he could get Hall of Fame consideration. It's not like they're stumping for Christian Vasquez or A.J. Pierzynski.