MLB: If the League Ended Today, Who Would be a Hall of Famer?
By Jason Reed
The Borderline Players:
- Mike Trout: 48.5 WAR
- David Wright: 49.9 WAR
- Joe Mauer: 50.0 WAR
- Dustin Pedroia: 50.7 WAR
- Justin Verlander: 50.2 WAR
- Cole Hamels: 51.1 WAR
- Felix Hernandez: 51.6 WAR
First of all, the fact that Mike Trout is 18th in active WAR going into his sixth full season is staggering to me. Trout is up there with the likes of David Wright and Joe Mauer, guys I remember watching in elementary school. I mean heck, Wright made his MLB debut when Trout was only 13 years old, and we don’t even consider Wright to be an old-timer yet. Besides that, these are guys that are right there on the cusp of statistically making the Hall of Fame, and some of them honestly could if the league ended today.
Trout is a Hall of Famer to me, I’m sorry for any baseball naturalists that it upsets. Trout has put together one of the most histroric five-year stretches in history, and he has no signs of slowing down. He was won two MVP’s, and established himself as a special player. Alongside Trout, I could see Pedroia, Verlander, and Hamels also go in. King Felix is very close to making it, however with no playoff experience it’s almost hard to make a solid case. The same goes for Mauer. He is a solid player but does not reach out and shout Hall of Fame to me.
David Wright is the most questionable on this list. He has always been a solid player but never really reached superstar level. He has the numbers to show, but like Mauer and Hernandez just lacks that Hall of Fame factor. As for the other three, Pedroia is a two-time World Series champion, MVP winner, and career .301 hitter. Hamels has locked down a World Series, which honestly is the deciding factor pushing him over the edge. Verlander has won both the Cy Young and MVP, and has consistently been one of the best pitchers of this decade.