St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina has joined some exclusive company.
Yadier Molina became the fifth player in St. Louis Cardinals history to play in 1800 games with the franchise.
With his 1800th game as a St. Louis Cardinal under his belt, Yadier Molina has joined an exclusive club. He is just the fifth Cardinal to play 1800 or more games with the team. He joins Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith and Enos Slaughter as the only players to do this. Those four players are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Molina was drafted by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2000 Amateur Draft. Eight picks before him, the Montreal Expos took Cliff Lee. Another longtime MLB player taken in the fourth round of that draft was David DeJesus. Lee last played in the big leagues in 2014. DeJesus hasn’t appeared in a game since 2015.
For the first seven years of his career, Molina was the epitome of the good glove, no-hit backstop. He had a .268/.327/.361 batting line and averaged six home runs and 46 RBI in 115 games per season. While the bat wasn’t impressive, the glove was. He won three Gold Glove Awards and made the all-star team twice in his first seven years.
Molina has added five more Gold Glove Awards and six more all-star appearances to his resume. He also picked it up with the bat, starting with the 2011 season when he went on a three-year hitting binge. From 2011 to 2013, Molina upped his power output to an average of 16 home runs per season in 138 games while hitting .313/.361/.481.
Then, just as suddenly as he made the great leap offensively, he dropped back to roughly a league average hitter. In the last four-plus seasons, he’s been right at league average with a .282/.327/.409 batting line. He’s enjoyed the home run surge over the last few years, though, as he hit 18 last year and has 11 at the halfway point this year. His on-base percentage hasn’t kept pace (.310 OBP since the beginning of the 2017 season).
Unlike the other four Cardinals who’ve played 1800 or more games with the team, Molina still has a ways to go to get to the Hall of Fame. On the Jay Jaffe JAWS Hall of Fame monitor, he’s very close to Hall of Famer Roy Campanella, but Campy isn’t a good comp. His career was cut short by the color barrier on the front end and a car accident that left him with a spinal cord injury on the back end. He also won three MVP Awards.
Molina is 35 years old and still about 15 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) short of the average Hall of Fame catcher. He also doesn’t have the peak that Hall of Fame catchers have. Molina has had just two seasons in which he was worth more than 3.5 WAR.
Even if he doesn’t make the Hall of Fame, Molina has had a terrific career. With two more years left on his contract with the Cardinals, he has a good chance to get to 2000 hits. He’s at 1779 right now. Should he get to 2000 hits, he would be one of six St. Louis Cardinals players to do so. He would also be only the 16th catcher in baseball history to get there.
So what about the other four Cardinals players who have played 1800 games with the franchise? Let’s take a look at this iconic foursome.