2023 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

the non-releasers hate Rolen. He loses about 8 percent of his known vote from them. But he’s the top returning guy and it’s obvious Beltran isn’t a strong first timer, so it’s going to be close

 

Why do they hate Rolen?

 

He hit over .300 twice in his 17-year MLB career. He finished fourth in MVP voting one season, nothing higher than 14th otherwise.

Great defender, but there is that.

 

I heard BA was overrated. Pretty sure it was in all the papers.

 

Perhaps if he had prolific home-run numbers. And they were pretty good early in his career. But his power output tanked in his last 7-8 seasons.

And I still think batting average has its place. ERA too. His career slash line was .281/.364/.490. Good. Not great.

 

Brooks Robinson's career slash line: .267/.322/.401. Decent. Not good.

 

Also, the best defensive third baseman to ever live.

Rolen was really good, and this is probably going to get me skewered, but at some point, the Hall of Fame becomes the eye test: Did you think you were watching a Hall of Famer in real time? If you weren't in his market, did you make it a point to head to the park when his team was in town? Did anyone think this about Rolen? Maybe I'm in the minority, but I never once thought of him as a HOFer in real time. He's going to get in (probably not this year, but very soon) and that's fine, but he's as meh as it gets for Cooperstown.

 

They have similar bWAR (haven't checked fWAR). In fact, I believe Rolen's WAR per season was higher than Robinson's.

I'm not saying Robinson isn't a Hall of Famer. I'm saying Rolen is. And third base is woefully underrepresented in Cooperstown. FFS, it took until after Ron Santo's death for him to get in.

 

Very true and fair. I'm glad the metrics have advanced to the point where a guy like Rolen can build up some momentum. But even after looking at those numbers, I'm just not seeing it. Fortunately for him, I don't have a vote and he's going to get in.

 

I assume that Beltran's weak showing is about the cheating scandal. I can't see another reason he wouldn't be an easy first-timer.

 

Correct, several have said that is the basis -- at least as a first-timer and then re-evaluate going forward

 

Rolen and Beltran are the most deserving of that bunch. I, for one, seem to remember hearing Rolen referred to as a future HOFer quite bit, not least bc of his superior defense.