Former Colorado Rockies standout Todd Helton stands a good chance to get the call to Cooperstown today.
He is currently flirting with the 75 percent threshold in the voting process: surpassing it will mean induction to the Hall of Fame.
The results will be revealed today at 6:00 p.m. ET, live from Cooperstown.
Helton certainly presents an interesting case, even though some people argue that he should be a member of the “Hall of the very good” rather than the Hall of Fame.
“Todd Helton .316/.414/.539 (.953 OPS), 369 HRs, 1406 RBI, 2519 Hits, 133 OPS+, 61.8 WAR. Hall of Famer?,” Starting 9 tweeted.
Todd Helton
.316/.414/.539 (.953 OPS)
369 HRs
1406 RBI
2519 Hits
133 OPS+
61.8 WARHall of Famer? pic.twitter.com/UWj8PFUh87
— Starting 9 (@Starting9) January 24, 2023
Let’s put the totals aside for a minute and agree on the fact that he deserves to be enshrined with those rate stats.
A lifetime .316 batting average is impressive, as is his .414 career OBP.
Many players would dream about putting that OBP over a single season.
Now, to the totals: 61.8 WAR is solid, and even if he didn’t surpass the so-called “required” milestones like 3,000 hits or 500 home runs, he did very well in both stats.
For those who say he is a product of Coors Field, he had a good performance on the road.
In fact, it was comparable to some slam-dunk Hall of Famers:
Ken Griffey Jr road ops: .860
Todd Helton road ops: .855Todd Helton was basically Ken Griffey Jr on the road on his rate stats… he was good on the road
— Scottie B Cards (@scottie_b_cards) January 24, 2023
An .855 OPS on the road is very, very good.
Of course, he was a beast at home, but that isn’t his fault.
He doesn’t own an MVP award, yet certainly deserved one in 2000.
2000 NL MVP Voting
Led in WAR, AVG, Hits, RBI, OBP, SLG, OPS pic.twitter.com/ZNO6Cfoj8j
— JRos_22 (@JRos_22) January 24, 2023
He led seven major stat categories that year (WAR, batting average, RBI, hits, OBP, slugging, and OPS) yet finished fifth.
All things considered, Helton is certainly a deserving candidate to enter the Hall and become an immortal.
NEXT: MLB Insider Shares Major Todd Helton Update