These LA Dodgers Might Be Future Hall of Famers

When I was a kid, I used to spend the night at my friend Danny’s house. We would stay up late talking baseball. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, it was all Dodgers all the time. We used to play a game called, How many current Major Leaguers will be elected to the Hall of Fame someday?

Not to date us, but in our day, it was Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey. It was Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, George Brett, Mike Schmidt and, yes, Reggie Jackson (get your rear end out of the way of Bill Russell’s double play attempt!). It seemed a lot easier to pick future Hall of Famers back then. Only the stars hit 40 home runs or won 20 games. It took a couple of tries, but I was actually at Don Sutton’s 300th career win.

Nowadays, it seems like home runs, RBIs, wins and ERA don’t matter. It’s all about OBP, wOBA, xFIP and DRS. Sounds more like a law firm than baseball statistics.

I think most baseball people agree. If he never threw another pitch in the Major Leagues, Clayton Edward Kershaw would still be a near lock to be invited to Cooperstown sometime around 2030.

Go to his Baseball Reference page, and before you begin scrolling down to some of the astounding stats about him, focus on the top of the page: MVP, Triple Crown, Gold Glove, Major League Player of the Year, three-time Cy Young Award winner, seven-time All-Star, five-time ERA leader.

And he’s still only 29!

Scroll down to Standard Pitching and look at all the bold-faced numbers. Those are league leading stats for a particular year. Thirty seven of them, to be exact.

Using some of today’s statistical information, Kershaw is ninth among active players in WAR with 59.4. Sure, that doesn’t sound as exciting as when Aaron finished the 1974 season with 713 home runs in his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s all-time record.

But consider that every one of the players ahead of Kershaw on the active WAR list has played a minimum of 13 seasons and is at least 33 years old. Kershaw has played 10 seasons and, yes, is only 29!

The Dodgers’ ace is the active leader in ERA (2.36) by a wide margin. The fascinating part of that is that the difference between Kershaw and second place Chris Sale (2.98) is greater than the gap between Sale and 17^th place Julio Teheran (3.59).

Kershaw leads all active pitchers in both WHIP (1.002) and adjusted ERA+ at 161 by a wide margin. The ERA+ gap between Kershaw (161) and second place Chris Sale (139) is equal to the gap between Sale and 15^th place CC Sabathia (117).

Kershaw is 11^th on the active wins list with 144, and every player ahead of him has played at least two more seasons and is at least two years older.

Of all active Major League pitchers, Clayton Kershaw is the closest thing to Hall of Fame sure thing.

The Dodgers actually have three candidates in this category.  Kenley Jansen is a two-time All-Star and was named MLB Reliever of the Year in 2016 and 2017. His cut fastball has been compared to that of arguably the greatest cutter ever, that of a pretty good soon-to-be Hall of Fame reliever named Mariano Rivera.

Jansen’s numbers are on pace with those of Rivera, as well as Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter.

Five more seasons like the last couple of years would give Jansen more than 400 saves and vault him into the top five all time.

Career totals   *plus 197 wins

Yes, Adrian Gonzalez is no longer a Dodger. He is on this list because he just left the Dodgers this off-season and because there’s a better than 50/50 chance that he would go in wearing a Dodgers cap. Gonzalez has 311 home runs, 1,176 RBIs and a career 42.7 WAR in 14 seasons. His 162-game averages (27, 102, .288/.359/.488/.847) compare favorably with some of the first basemen listed above, but he would probably need another three to five years producing at his career averages to accumulate the totals necessary for a legitimate chance at induction.

Justin Turner has gone from being claimed off waivers by the Mets in 2010 to being released in 2013 to one of the top five third basemen in all of baseball, both offensively and defensively. His 18 defensive runs saved are better than even Josh Donaldson over the past three years. He may go down as one of the best Dodger third basemen ever but, unfortunately for Turner, his Hall of Fame case lacks longevity, making it highly unlikely he’ll even get a sniff.

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It’s still too soon to tell, but Joc Pederson, Julio Urias, Walker Buehler and Alex Verdugo are  several more players who might qualify for this list in the near future. Yes, Pederson is on my list because, who knows, something could click inside of him this season. Plus, he’ll only be 25 on Opening Day. Twelve more years of what his projection was when he was still a prospect could get him there.

Urias and Buehler each had surgeries that slowed their chase of the Hall, but they’re both still two of the hottest young arms in baseball. With today’s advances in medical procedure success, either or both of them could return better than even their projections.

Verdugo could get a chance as early as this spring to begin his assault on Cooperstown. Although he’s not the type of power hitter the Hall smiles on, his Tony Gwynn-esque type of gap hitting will at least get him headed in the right direction.

Next: LA Fans Brace for Kemp's Impact

I am certain that Kershaw will some day give his acceptance speech in Cooperstown. Jansen has a 75 percent chance, Seager 40 percent and Bellinger 35 percent.

I’m sure Danny would agree.