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Adrian Beltre’s Hall of Fame credentials

By Bill Felber

SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 30: Adrian Beltre #29 of the Texas Rangers stands on the field during the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner" before a game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on September 30, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners won the game 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 30: Adrian Beltre #29 of the Texas Rangers stands on the field during the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner" before a game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on September 30, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners won the game 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /
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Adrian Beltre
KANSAS CITY, MO – OCTOBER 1980: Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies swings and connects with the ball during the World Series against the Kansas City Royals at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri in October of 1980. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Career bWAR

This may be Beltre’s single strongest credential. Across his 21 season career, he compiled a 95.7 career WAR, more than all but two of the players in our comparison. Only Mike Schmidt (106.8), generally recognized as the best third baseman of all time, and Eddie Mathews (96.6) rank ahead of Beltre.

The average of our field of 20 is 67.93, meaning Beltre also ranks way above the norm for the game’s best.

The remarkable thing about Beltre’s career is that he never generated a negative WAR; his career low was 0.2 during a partial 1998 season when he was a teen-ager. As a full-timer, he’s only had one season with WAR below +2.0.

The closest comparables to Beltre are Chipper Jones and Wade Boggs (91.4), both of whom were elected with more than 90 percent of the vote. The Jones comparison is especially meaningful because Chipper was just elected earlier this year. That means that fundamentally the same voting bloc which gave Jones a 97 percent affirmative vote will five seasons from now be considering Beltre’s credentials.

Here’s how Beltre ranks compared with the five best third baseman of all time measured by career WAR:

1.       Mike Schmidt    106.8

2.       Eddie Mathews   96.6

3.       Adrian Beltre       95.7

4.       Wade Boggs        91.4

5.       George Brett       88.7

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