MLB: The one-and-done All-Star team of Baseball Hall of Fame rejects
By Bill Felber
One and done: Jorge Posada
The case for Jorge Posada’s enshrinement is only partly about his individual accomplishments, which were significant. His contributions to team success were at least as substantial, and possibly more so.
Posada was a member of the famed Yankee “core four” — Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Bernie Williams being the others — who were regulars on five World Series winners from 1996 through 2009. Across 17 seasons, he played 1,574 games behind the plate, all of them for New York. The list of catchers with more appearances behind the plate for one team is a short and exclusive one: Yadier Molina, Gabby Hartnett, Johnny Bench, Ray Schalk, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, and Bill Freehan.
He is 16th all-time in putouts by a catcher.
Posada was a career .273 hitter with a lifetime .848 OPS. That’s a big number for a guy who played an up-the-middle defensive position. He hit 275 home runs and topped 1,000 RBI, again solid benchmarks for a defensive-first guy, and totaled 42.7 career WAR.
Jay Jaffe rates his production as just under the Hall standard, which for catchers is a 53.7 career WAR. The Bill James Hall of Fame monitor scores him at 98 with 100 equaling fitness for induction.
Defense may have been what held him back among voters. Baseball-Reference puts Posada at -49 career Defensive Runs Saved.
Whatever the reason, when Posada gained ballot access in the 2017 election, voters were not impressed. Of 442 ballots, he was named on just 17, amounting to only 3.8 percent.
It may not have helped Posada’s candidacy that Ivan Rodriguez won first-ballot election (with 336 votes) that year.