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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 18: George Brett of the Kansas City Royals bats during World Series game four between the Kansas City Royals and Philadelphia Phillies on October 18, 1980 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals defeated the Phillies 5-3. (Photo by Rich Pilling/Getty Images) /

Career OPS+

This stat is an offshoot of OPS – on base plus slugging average – with two adjustments. First, it is park-adjusted and season-adjusted, making it excellent for purposes of cross-era comparison. Second, it is scaled to an average of 100, making comparisons among players easy.

In that context, Beltre’s career 116 sounds excellent. Among Hall of Fame third baseman, however, it’s run-of-the-mill. The average for our field of 20 is 122.75, and Beltre ranks only in a tie with non Hall of Famer Boyer for 13th.

He is 31 points behind Mike Schmidt (147), the group leader.

Again, the good news for Beltre is that career OPS+ appears not to be a decisive category among Hall of Fame voters. Two excellent consensus Hall of Famers – Brooks Robinson (104) and Jimmy Collins (113) rank behind him.

The bad news is that the standards may be moving. When Jones was elected, it was with a 141 career OPS+ that ranks third all time and 10 places ahead of Beltre.  So if a new breed of voters is looking hard at this new measurement rubric, it could be trouble for Beltre.

Here is how Beltre compares with the five best third basemen of all time as measured by career OPS+:

1.       Mike Schmidt                    147

2.       Eddie Mathews                143

3.       Chipper Jones                   141

T4       George Brett                   135

T4       Home Run Baker            135

T-14  Adrian Beltre                   116

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