http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2015-04-26/chase-utley-hall-of-fame-phillies-stats
<header style="font: 12px/17.14px Lato, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; display: block; white-space: normal; box-sizing: border-box; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Here's why Chase Utley should be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Durability aside, though, I think Utley already has earned himself a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the game’s all-time great second basemen.
Chase Utley (Getty Images)
MORE: Who are the Phillies' Franchise Four? | Schilling should be elected to Hall of Fame
Utley’s career began with a bang — his first major league hit was a grand slam, appropriately called by the late, great Harry Kalas. Kalas would later coin Utley’s nickname, “The Man,” when Utley flashed his baserunning IQ by scoring from second on an infield chop.
Since that first hit in 2003, Utley has put together a career that compares favorably with the careers of most of the second basemen who have been enshrined in Cooperstown. Take a look:
— Utley’s skills on the base paths have led to an 88.6 percent success rate stealing bases, the best figure among players with at least 100 attempts since caught stealing officially became a statistic in 1954.
— He is just one of two second basemen ever with at least 200 home runs and 100 defensive runs saved. The other is Hall of Famer Joe Gordon, whose career is eerily similar in terms of numbers and longevity. Gordon missed a lot of time during his career as well, to both injury and military service.
— He has 21 multi-homer games, the same number Gordon had in his career. Only Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, with 24, had more as a second baseman.
— Utley has 61.5 WAR in his career, just 6.0 fewer than Sandberg. He can close that gap in the waning years of his career.
— His peak WAR seasons are matched by few. He had a 17.2 WAR combined in 2008 and 2009, the highest total by a second basemen in consecutive seasons since Hall of Famer Joe Morgan’s back-to-back MVP years of 1975 and 1976.
— From 2005 to 2009, Utley had five straight seasons with at least a 7.0 WAR. Every other second basemen in history with at least four total 7.0 WAR seasons is in the Hall of Fame – Jackie Robinson (4), Sandberg (4), Charlie Gehringer (5), Morgan (5), Nap Lajoie (7), Eddie Collins (8) and Rogers Hornsby (8).
— Utley batted .301/.388/.535 during that five-year peak from 2005 to 2009. Only four other second basemen have slashed that in a season since Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. And none of them did it twice.
— Digging even deeper into his 2005 to 2009 peak: Utley averaged a .388 on-base percentage, 73 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases per season. Only four second basemen in history have equaled those numbers in a single season, again all Hall of Famers: Craig Biggio, Gehringer, Hornsby and Lajoie; Gehringer is the only one who did it twice.
— Utley’s peak also yielded a great deal of World Series success. He has seven career World Series home runs. Duke Snider is the only National Leaguer with more (11). In 2009, he tied Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, for most home runs in a single World Series, with five. His career .795 World Series slugging percentage ranks second best all-time among players with at least 35 plate appearances — edged only by David Ortiz, by six-ten-thousandths of a point.
— Utley has a career 124 OPS+, tied with Gehringer for ninth all-time among players with at least 1,000 career games at second base. His .486 slugging ranks fourth best among that crew. His 143 career defensive runs saved also ranks fourth. Each leg of his .284/.368/.486 slash-line is surpassed only by one second baseman ever , the great Hornsby. His career WAR per 162 games played ranks 29th all-time among position players.
Utley should and I believe will one day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, immortalized among the game’s all-time great second basemen. The only question is: How will his speech at Cooperstown top his speech from the day he and about two millions Phillies fans marched down Broad? (Slightly NSFW video here).
Sporting News contributor Ryan Spaeder is the creator and owner/operator of the popular Twitter account Ace of MLB Stats ( @aceballstats ).
<header style="font: 12px/17.14px Lato, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; display: block; white-space: normal; box-sizing: border-box; widows: 1; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Here's why Chase Utley should be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Ryan Spaeder Contributor @AceballStats
Email RSS - April 26, 2015 12:04pm EDT
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Durability aside, though, I think Utley already has earned himself a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the game’s all-time great second basemen.
MORE: Who are the Phillies' Franchise Four? | Schilling should be elected to Hall of Fame
Utley’s career began with a bang — his first major league hit was a grand slam, appropriately called by the late, great Harry Kalas. Kalas would later coin Utley’s nickname, “The Man,” when Utley flashed his baserunning IQ by scoring from second on an infield chop.
Since that first hit in 2003, Utley has put together a career that compares favorably with the careers of most of the second basemen who have been enshrined in Cooperstown. Take a look:
— Utley’s skills on the base paths have led to an 88.6 percent success rate stealing bases, the best figure among players with at least 100 attempts since caught stealing officially became a statistic in 1954.
— He is just one of two second basemen ever with at least 200 home runs and 100 defensive runs saved. The other is Hall of Famer Joe Gordon, whose career is eerily similar in terms of numbers and longevity. Gordon missed a lot of time during his career as well, to both injury and military service.
— He has 21 multi-homer games, the same number Gordon had in his career. Only Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, with 24, had more as a second baseman.
— Utley has 61.5 WAR in his career, just 6.0 fewer than Sandberg. He can close that gap in the waning years of his career.
— His peak WAR seasons are matched by few. He had a 17.2 WAR combined in 2008 and 2009, the highest total by a second basemen in consecutive seasons since Hall of Famer Joe Morgan’s back-to-back MVP years of 1975 and 1976.
— From 2005 to 2009, Utley had five straight seasons with at least a 7.0 WAR. Every other second basemen in history with at least four total 7.0 WAR seasons is in the Hall of Fame – Jackie Robinson (4), Sandberg (4), Charlie Gehringer (5), Morgan (5), Nap Lajoie (7), Eddie Collins (8) and Rogers Hornsby (8).
— Utley batted .301/.388/.535 during that five-year peak from 2005 to 2009. Only four other second basemen have slashed that in a season since Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. And none of them did it twice.
— Digging even deeper into his 2005 to 2009 peak: Utley averaged a .388 on-base percentage, 73 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases per season. Only four second basemen in history have equaled those numbers in a single season, again all Hall of Famers: Craig Biggio, Gehringer, Hornsby and Lajoie; Gehringer is the only one who did it twice.
— Utley’s peak also yielded a great deal of World Series success. He has seven career World Series home runs. Duke Snider is the only National Leaguer with more (11). In 2009, he tied Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, for most home runs in a single World Series, with five. His career .795 World Series slugging percentage ranks second best all-time among players with at least 35 plate appearances — edged only by David Ortiz, by six-ten-thousandths of a point.
— Utley has a career 124 OPS+, tied with Gehringer for ninth all-time among players with at least 1,000 career games at second base. His .486 slugging ranks fourth best among that crew. His 143 career defensive runs saved also ranks fourth. Each leg of his .284/.368/.486 slash-line is surpassed only by one second baseman ever , the great Hornsby. His career WAR per 162 games played ranks 29th all-time among position players.
Utley should and I believe will one day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, immortalized among the game’s all-time great second basemen. The only question is: How will his speech at Cooperstown top his speech from the day he and about two millions Phillies fans marched down Broad? (Slightly NSFW video here).
Sporting News contributor Ryan Spaeder is the creator and owner/operator of the popular Twitter account Ace of MLB Stats ( @aceballstats ).
