Among the many candidates for baseball’s Corridor of Fame on the present BBWAA poll, you will not discover the subsequent Sandy Koufax.
However you will see right-hander Félix Hérnández, whose accomplishments rank someplace between Koufax and Dizzy Dean, a pair of Corridor of Famers who had quick careers punctuated by dominant peaks. After they had been good, Koufax and Dean had been actually, actually good, even when neither had been in a position to have a lot of a profession after reaching age 30.
Koufax, who turned 90 years previous Tuesday, is the archetype amongst beginning pitchers for having a excessive peak and quick profession. He famously retired in 1966 having received 5 straight Nationwide League ERA titles for the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier than being pushed into retirement due to accidents. Regardless of: Regardless of an absence of cumulative stats, together with the BBWAA’s historic penchant for making even the perfect gamers wait method too lengthy for induction, the writers elected Koufax on the primary poll in 1972 with 86.9% of the vote. It was 100% the fitting factor for them to do, even when it contradicted, in a number of methods, 4 a long time of earlier election outcomes.
In a pleasant coincidence, Koufax’s birthday all the time comes a day earlier than the Dec. 31 deadline to have BBWAA ballots postmarked. So, if anyone was planning on voting for Hérnández (or anybody else) for ’26, time is about up.
Hérnández’s journey to Cooperstown, ought to he get there, will look extra like that of Dean, who was elected on his ninth poll in 1953. Hérnández obtained 20.6% of the vote in his first poll a 12 months in the past, and is polling significantly better this time on the Baseball Corridor of Fame Vote Tracker, which Ryan Thibodaux began curating in 2014. As of late Tuesday evening, with 23.6% public votes counted, Hérnández sat at 58.4%. Gamers want 75% for election, which nearly definitely will not occur this time for Hérnández when outcomes are introduced Jan. 20. Proper now, it is trying good for Carlos Beltrán and presumably good for Andruw Jones.
It is trying prefer it may occur sometime for Hérnández, who would not be the worst pitcher added to Cooperstown. Hérnández has a Cy Younger (and 5 extra top-10 finishes) to go together with two ERA titles and 6 All-Star appearances. Hérnández carried out significantly better general than Dean, who had the excessive six-season peak and never a lot else. Hérnández ranks 69th amongst certified beginning pitchers in WAR at Fangraphs — proper between Koufax and Ted Lyons (one other Corridor of Famer), and forward of at the least 24 starters already within the Corridor. Dean ranks 151st in fWAR, and isn’t even the perfect pitcher nicknamed Dizzy in historical past. That’s Dizzy Trout, who just isn’t within the Corridor.
Simply trying on the peak of his personal period (2006-2015) Hérnández ranks No. 1 in fWAR. Higher in that span, barely, than Justin Verlander. The place he begins to fall off is in longevity — one thing Koufax and Dean do not have, both. The one beginning pitcher in Cooperstown with fewer innings pitched than Koufax is Dean.
This isn’t to say that Hérnández was a greater pitcher than Koufax, however even Koufax’s profession needed to be put in a sure context to make the outcomes worthy of the Corridor of Fame. Organize the plaques nevertheless you need. Make a psychological record of Corridor of Famers and put them in fake tiers of various greatness. Rank the heck out of them by yourself time.
Simply perceive that Félix Hérnández belongs in the identical constructing with Sandy Koufax and Dizzy Dean.
