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