Just like everything else in baseball these days, there’s a statistic that can tell you whether or not a player has what it takes to be voted into the Hall of Fame.
Gone are the days of arguing that your favorite player has been overlooked, because the “Hall of Fame Monitor” is a pretty good barometer of who’s bound for Cooperstown after retirement and even while they’re playing.
BetMissouri.com utilized Baseball-Reference.com's “Hall of Fame Monitor” stat to see which current players are worthy of Cooperstown. The figure assesses how likely an active player is to make the Hall of Fame. Using its rough scale, 100 means a good possibility and 130 is a virtual cinch and the site explains how it came up with the “Hall of Fame Monitor.”
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Most Likely Active Hall of Famers
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Players With Missouri Ties Building Resumes
Two pitchers who started their careers in Missouri and two hitters who moved to St. Louis mid-career have numbers that suggest they are Hall of Fame worthy.
Max Scherzer, whose monitor value is third among active pitchers at 177, graduated from Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield before a successful three years at the University of Missouri led to the Arizona Diamondbacks making him the No. 11 overall pick in the 2006 draft.
Scherzer has won three Cy Young Awards and is 209-105 in his 16-year career. Currently in his second season with the New York Mets, he won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019 and pitched for the Diamondbacks, Tigers and a half season with the Dodgers.
He’s one of 19 pitchers to reach the 3,000 strikeout club, which he joined on Sept. 12, 2021, and he’s the active leader with 3,300.
The Mets aren’t having the success they hoped for when they signed Scherzer. Although there are no Missouri betting apps, national operators list New York as +25000 to win the American League East.
The Kansas City Royals selected Zach Greinke with the sixth overall pick in 2002, he joined the club in 2004 and has compiled a monitor score of 114. The six-time All-Star won the Cy Young for the Royals in 2009 not long before he started moving around to the Brewers, Angels, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Astros.
Now 39, he’s in his second season back with the Royals, and he’s chasing that 3,000th strikeout. He’s 54 shy of the milestone and struggling at 1-9 with a 5.44 ERA. Still, he’s 224-150 with a career ERA of 3.48.
Cardinals Have Two Players on List
The two Cardinals sluggers are third baseman Nolan Arenado at 122 and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt at 105 on the monitor.
Arenado, an eight-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner, was Colorado’s second pick in 2009, and he made the Rockies in 2013. He benefited from playing in a hitter’s park, but he’s played at a high level in St. Louis, averaging 32 homers and 104 RBIs in his first two seasons and making his third All-Star Game with it this year.
The Arizona Diamondbacks took Goldschmidt in the eighth round in 2009, he made the majors in 2011, and Arizona traded him to St. Louis in 2018. The seven-time All-Star won MVP in 2022 in his fourth year in St. Louis, and he has five Silver Slugger honors and four Gold Gloves. He’s on the edge of Hall of Fame status, but he’s already reached 300 homers and 1,000 RBIs.
But this year has been a struggle for St. Louis. There is no BetMGM Sportsbook Missouri, but nationally the Cardinals are +1800 to win the NL Central.
It should be noted two Cardinals greats who retired last year will have their names called to Cooperstown, and it’s possible they could go in together in 2028. That’s first baseman Albert Pujols and catcher Yadier Molina.
Pujols hit 469 of his 703 homers with the Cardinals. He has the highest batting monitor total not yet eligible at 334. That ranks 12th all-time, with Cardinals great Stan Musial at No. 1 with a 452 score.
Molina, who spent his entire 19-year career in St. Louis, ranks fifth among those not yet eligible at 169.
