Hall of Fame Poll: Cole Hamels

I’m going to skip a couple players who are on the ballot for the first time:

Gio Gonzalez pitched 13 seasons in the majors, with the A’s, Nationals, Brewers and White Sox. He had a 131-101 record, a 3.70 ERA in 344 games, 328 starts and a 29.8 bWAR.

He had a stretch where he made 30 or more starts in 9 of 10 seasons (27 the other season). He threw 200 innings three times, and led the league in wins with 21 in 2012.. He got Cy Young votes twice, finishing third and sixth. Made two All-Star teams and got MVP votes once. He also led the league in walks twice.

The Writers are going to have to change how they judge the careers of starting pitchers. We aren’t going to see a 300 game winner again. It is unlikely we’ll see a 200 game winner. But Gio doesn’t seem a Hall of Fame candidate to me.

But Hall of Very Good? Sure.

Alex Gordon had a 14-year MLB career, playing for the Royals. He started out as a third baseman, and moved to left field as his career progressed.

He had a .257/.338/.410 batting line with 190 home runs, 113 steals and a 34.9 bWAR. He had a four-year run when he was one of the best players in the league, picking up bWAR values of 7.3, 6.3, 4.1 and 6.1. If that had gone on awhile longer, you would have a Hall of Famer.

Alex had MVP votes twice (12th and 21st in voting). He had eight Gold Gloves and made three All-Star teams. Unfortunately, the rest of his career was rather pedestrian.

He had a nice career, but I doubt that even Royals’ fans would consider him a Hall of Fame type.

It is also Cole Hamels first time on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Hamels pitched for 15 seasons in the MLB for the Phillies, Rangers, Cubs and, one game, for the Braves. He had a 163-122 record, with a 3.43 ERA in 423 games, 422 starts and 1 57.9 bWAR.

Cole received Cy Young votes four times (finishing 5th, 6th twice and 8th) and made four All-Star Teams. And he has a World Series ring. He had a 3.41 ERA in 17 games in the playoffs. And he threw over 200 innings eight times.

But, he never led the league in any category in any season. He topped out at 17 innings in a season. He had 2560 strikeouts in 2698 innings (34th all-time).

He also threw a no-hitter, on July 25, 2015 against the Cubs. He also threw the first six innings of another no-hitter.

A couple of Cy Young awards would help out his chances of making the Hall.

His career numbers are here.