Martinez tracking to make Hall of Fame
NEW YORK — Edgar Martinez is rocketing up the Hall of Fame ballot, boosted 13 years after his final swing by new-age statistical analyses and campaigning.
His percentage of the vote more than doubled from 2015 to last year, and he is projected to be around the 75 percent needed for election when this year’s voting is announced today. He could become only the second Hall of Famer who was primarily a designated hitter.
“I think it’s kind of like relief pitchers: Once the first couple started to get in, people had to accept the fact that they’re part of the game now,” said MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby, who voted for Martinez for the first time this year. “You can’t get around them. You can’t ignore it. And so you have to give them consideration.”
Martinez received 25.2 percent in 2014, when Frank Thomas became the first player elected after spending most of his career as a DH, a position instituted in 1973. Martinez rose to 27 percent the following year, 43.4 percent in 2016 and 58.6 percent last year. He is on 77.1 percent of the 231 ballots obtained by Ryan Thibodaux and posted on his Hall of Fame vote-tracker.
Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Vladimir Guerrero are likely to be overwhelming picks, and Trevor Hoffman could get in, too, after a near-miss last year.
Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are both tracking at 63.6 percent in the sixth ballot appearance for each. Last year Clemens finished at 54.1 percent and Bonds at 53.8.
Martinez’s chances have been aided Ryan M. Spaeder, a 28-year-old fan from Virginia who sent statistical analyses to about 250 voters. Martinez is making the ninth of the 10 appearances he is allowed on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot.
“We now have tools to evaluate players that we didn’t have even 10 years ago, and it’s easy now to compare Edgar, not just to other DHs but to other hitters, both of his era and all eras,” former ESPN reporter Jayson Stark said. “He measures up against all of them.”
A seven-time All-Star, Martinez was a designated hitter in 1,412 of 2,055 career regular-season games. During an 18-season big-league career spent entirely with Seattle, he won two AL batting titles, earned seven AllStar selections and finished with a .312 average and 309 homers.
Paul Molitor, elected to the Hall in 2004, was a DH in 1,174 of 2,683 games. Thomas DHed in 1,310 of 2,322.
Seattle distributed a 15-page look at Martinez’s career to potential voters. Spaeder has compared him to Hall of Famers, pointing out an on-base percentage (.418) superior to Stan Musial’s, an OPS (.933) above Frank Robinson’s and a slugging percentage (.515) greater than Willie McCovey’s. His Weighted Runs Above Average led to an additional 54 Mariners wins, Jack Moore pointed out on Fangraphs in 2009.