28 players in MLB history had 3000 TB, an .800 OPS, and 10 dWAR 18 Hall of Famers 4 Active 2 connected to PEDs Ken Boyer Robin Ventura @hofjones.bsky.social and Chase Utley

Ballot #85 is from Christopher Smith. Five hitters receive his vote once again, as well as Chase Utley for the first time (+10) Smith explains his voting rationale here: x.com/smittyonmlb/... In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Utley played his first full season at age 26. Overall, Utley is one of 39 players to have 3000 TB, a 110 OPS+, and 10 dWAR. (86.5% are Hall of Fame/Active/Scandal) However, from age 26 on, Utley is one of only TEN players to have those stats. He and Nettles are the only snubs.

I don't know if this is the Kent effect, but Utley continues to make huge strides. He's net +9 with returning voters, 81.8% with first time voters, and (through 75 ballots) at 62.7% overall.

Jimmy Rollins (.324 OBP, 95 OPS+, 81.7% SB) hit lead off for PHI instead of Utley (.358 OBP, 117 OPS+, 87.5% SB). These days, Utley would be the leadoff man. If Utley (4.06 PA/G) had the same rate stats and career games, but had Rollins's 4.50 PA/G, here's what his career stats should be.

Hot Take: No one actually wants a Promotion/Relegation system, and the proof is that no one calls it "Promotion/Relegation." People like the idea of Relegation because it's like the adult version of hiding junk under your bed and saying your room is clean.

Among second baseman who aren't Hall of Fame/Active/Scandal, his ranks from age 26 on: WAR - 1st WAA -1st dWAR - 2nd Runs - 2nd RBI - 1st HR - 1st TB - 1st TOB - 1st

The first 60 ballots revealed include 10 from first-time voters. Here is how each candidate has fared among the rookie voters: Beltrán, Félix 100% Andruw, Pettitte 90% Utley 80% Hamels 70% Abreu, Manny, A-Rod 60% Buehrle 50% Rollins 40% Pedroia, Wright 30% K-Rod, Vizquel 10% All others 0%

I do strongly support Jeff Kent’s case as a powerful slugging 2B for HOF induction but this only strengthens the cases for more well rounded 2B such as Whitaker, Grich, and Utley. Ken’t induction should open the door for fast induction of Utley, hopefully.

Utley's ranks among players with 1500 games at 2B: WAR - 14th WAA - 8th dWAR - 7th Runs - 21st RBI - 15th HR - 7th TB - 19th TOB - 22nd And his ranks from age 26 on: WAR - 5th WAA - 5th dWAR - 2nd Runs - 9th RBI - 8th HR - 4th TB - 8th TOB - 8th

Ballot #50 is from Howard Sinker. He selects the current top 8. Utley is now +6 and Félix +13. At 50 ballots, Beltrán and Andruw are at 80%, Utley 64%, Félix 58%, Pettitte 54%, A-Rod 50%, and Abreu and Manny 44%. Coming Soon to the Tracker.

Utley ranks 10th in IBB among 2B. Among those with an .800 OPS* he ranks 5th 1. Cano PEDs 2. Gordon HOF 3. Morgan HOF 4. Alomar HOF 5. UTLEY 6. Kent HOF 7. Robinson HOF 8. Hornsby HOF 9. Doerr HOF 10. Altuve 11. Gehringer HOF *i.e. players not hitting in front of the pitcher

Utley ranks 256th in Total Bases, but 19th among 2B. 15 of the 18 ahead of him are HOF/Active/Scandal. Utley ranks 179th in TB from age 24 on, but 12th among 2B. 10 of the 11 ahead of him are HOFAS. Utley ranks 132nd in TB from age 26 on, but 9th among 2B. All 8 ahead of him are HOFAS.

Now I'm imaging what would've happened if Johan Santana had more than one ballot and getting sad.

Here's where Utley ranks in Wins Above Average for various age ranges: Career WAA (41.0) 57th All Time 9th among non-HOF Age 24+ WAA (41.0) 44th All Time 5th among non-HOF (behind Bonds, A-Rod, Judge, Pujols) Age 26+ WAA (39.7) 35th All Time 4th among non-HOF (behind Bonds, A-Rod, Judge)

Ballot #40 is from Larry Stone. Cole Hamels and Andy Pettitte (+4) join his five holdovers. Leading candidates Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones (31/40 each) remain above 75% while Chase Utley has reached 60% Coming soon to the Tracker…

If we change it to World Series MVPs with 29.9 career WAA Sandy Koufax 2x Mariano Rivera Derek Jeter Freeman Hamels Ramirez Johnson Schilling Glavine Molitor Saberhagen Trammell Schmidt Jackson 2x Bench Clemente Robinson Robinson Gibson 2X

I understand being a bit skeptical of advanced defensive metrics. But in order for Utley to not be a deserving Hall of Famer, the metrics would need to be so ridiculously far off. That's not skepticism, that's a denial that advanced metrics are even in the right neighborhood.

Chase Utley leads Hall of Famer Jeff Kent in rWAR, 64.6 to 55.4. You could knock Utley's dWAR down from 17.4 to 8.2, and he'd be tied with Kent in total WAR. Utley leads Kent in WAA, 41.0 to 26.6. If you knocked his dWAR down to just 3.0, then they'd be tied in WAA.

Objective offensive stats: 3000 TB, 700 BB, .800 OPS. 162 hitters put up these (non-sabermetric) numbers in their career. With 8 positions, you would expect roughly 20 players at each. Yet only ten were primarily 2B (40% of games). 9 Hall of Famers and Chase Utley.

Ballot #27 is from Chris Assenheimer. Three players join seven holdovers. K-Rod is now net +2, while Chase Utley (+3) gets the third add of his third year of eligibility, this one on his 47th birthday. Braun picks up his 4th vote and is at 14.8%. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

It's been a month, time to check back in. The 11 players with 1700 games at 2B and an OPS over .800 Hall of Famers: JEFF KENT Morgan Doerr Alomar Gehringer Frisch Lajoie Collins Active: Altuve PEDs: Cano Snub: Utley

Happy Birthday to the best Second Baseman of the 21st century! I didn't get him anything this year, but hopefully a couple of Hall of Fame voters give him the best gift they can.

Happy birthday, Chase Utley! #RingTheBell @phillies.com

Born on this date: Chase Utley, Tyler Rogers, Taylor Rogers, Donovan Solano, Bill Hutchison, Leo Cárdenas... see more: https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/birthdays.cgi?month=12&day=17

Eight second basemen in history had 700 XBH and a .450 SLG Rogers Hornsby, Charlie Gehringer, Nap Lajoie, Ryne Sandberg, and Jeff Kent are in the Hall. Robinson Cano would've been. Jose Altuve and Chase Utely will be.

Only 28 players had 1700 games at 2B. Utley's ranks: 1st in SB% 6th in HR 6th in IBB 6th in dWAR 7th in OPS 7th in WPA Among the retired, non-HOF, non-PED players: 1st in SB% 1st in HR 2nd in IBB 3rd in dWAR 1st in OPS 2nd in WPA

Ballot #21 is from David Skretta. Holdovers Jones and Utley receive his vote. No adds or drops for returning candidates. Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán both remain above 75% In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

There have been twenty-one stretches of 7 years where a hitter: 1. played 75% of games at 2B 2. hit 150 HR 3. maintained a 130 OPS+ Below are the five players who combined to have these seven year stretches, and what years they took place.

Seven Second Baseman have 250 HR with an .800 OPS Active: Jose Altuve Hall of Fame: Joe Gordon Joe Morgan Rogers Hornsby Jeff Kent PEDs: Robinson Cano Snub: Chase Utley . Bonus Fact: Utley, Hornsby, and Gordon are the only ones with a dWAR greater than 10.0.

With the election of Kent, every single second baseman with more Home Runs than Utley is either in the Hall of Fame or got suspended twice for using steroids.

The 16 Second Baseman* to reach 1800 hits and 1000 RBI 13 Hall of Famers (Congratulations Jeff Kent!) Whitaker Canó Utley *51% of games (At 40% of games, we add one more player, Hall of Famer Rod Carew)

They updated JAWS to include Kent, and look at that, Utley is above the average Hall of Fame Second Baseman.

Top 21 position players from 1995 (start of WC ERA) to 2020 (retirement year for ballot debuts) ranked by fWAR PEDs PEDs Pujols HOF* HOF* Trout HOF* Cabrera HOF Beltran #AndruwHOF HOF* PEDs Edmonds @hofutley.bsky.social HOF* Abreu PEDS HOF HOF* Votto *1st ballot HOF

Top 23 position players from 1995 (start of WC ERA) to 2020 (retirement year for ballot debuts) ranked by rWAR PEDs Pujols PEDs HOF* HOF* Trout HOF* PEDs HOF Beltran HOF* Cabrera PEDs #UtleyHOF @hofjones.bsky.social HOF Votto Abreu HOF* HOF* Edmonds HOF HOF *1st ballot

Ballot #15 is from Octavio Sequera. He adds 4 candidates to 5 holdovers. Félix moves to +4 & Pedroia to +2, while both Hunter & Utley pick up their 1st add of the year and are +1. Félix, Pedroia, & Hunter have 8, 4, & 1 vote respectively w/o a 2025 public yes counted. In the Tracker: tracker.fyi

Speaking as a Mets fan who does not have warm and fuzzies for Utley, it will be a travesty if he doesn’t make it after Kent gets in.

If Jeff Kent is a HOFer, idk how you keep Chase Utley out

if Jeff Kent is in the Hall now, Chase Utley should get 99% of the vote, Jesus Christ

Jeff Kent elected to the Hall of Fame. The case for Chase Utley just got stronger.

Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball Era veterans committee elects Jeff Kent

The 23 Shortstops in the Hall averaged 67.7 career WAR, 43.2 Peak7 WAR, and 55.4 JAWS. The 20 Second Baseman in the Hall averaged 69.5 career WAR, 44.4 Peak7 WAR, and 57.0 JAWS. 2B are held to a higher standard. And keep in mind, WAR's positional adjustment ALREADY gives shortstops extra credit.

Only eleven Second Baseman in MLB history hit 250 HR. Of them, only three* had their Hit By Pitch >= their Double Plays Grounded Into. Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby* Hall of Famer Craig Biggio Chase Utley *GIDP wasn't tracked until 1933, but this stat is still true from that point on.

Most seasons with a .900 OPS by a 2B (75% of games) in NL/AL history 10 Hornsby* 9 Gehringer* 8 N/A 7 N/A 6 Collins* 5 Altuve^ Utley 4 Robinson* Lajoie* Alomar* *HOF ^Active

new @fangraphs.com: a look at the top newcomer on the BBWAA ballot, Cole Hamels — the only first-year candidate with a real shot at sticking around, and one who has a case as the ballot's best starting pitcher.

If Chase Utley had been worth 7.4 dWAR instead of 17.4 dWAR, then his WAA would go down from 41.0 to "just" 31.0. For context, 113 of the 132 players to reach 30.0 WAA are HOF/Active/Scandal Ridden. Which is to say, even if you doubt Utley's dWAR, he's STILL a deserving HOFer.

Top two at each position (min. 500 G) in WAA during the Wild Card Era. C Rodriguez^ Piazza^ 1B Pujols^ Thome^ 2B @hofutley.bsky.social Cano* 3B A-Rod* Chipper Jones^ SS A-Rod* Lindor^ LF Bonds* Ramirez* CF Trout^ #AndruwHOF RF Betts^ Judge^ . ^HOF or future 1st Ballot *PEDs

Exactly 200 hitters since the AL was founded in 1901 reached 3000 TB with an .800 OPS. 18 Middle Infielders reached 3000 TB with an .800 OPS. And only 12 Middle Infielders with a positive DRS achieved this. 10 Hall of Famers Robinson Cano Chase Utely

For the 10-year period, 2005-14, Utley had the 3rd highest WAR in MLB (57.7), behind only Pujols (57.9) and Cabrera (57.8): www.fangraphs.com/leaders/majo... For the 10-year period, 2004-13, Utley had the 2nd highest WAR in MLB, behind only Pujols: www.fangraphs.com/leaders/majo...

Doc’s career was basically 2002–2012. He accumulated the most pitcher WAR during that period, but he didn’t have the typical longevity. During that same timeframe, 02-12, Utley had the 4th most hitter WAR. Only he didn’t make the majors until ‘03 and wasn’t full time until ‘05. That’s HoF imo.