3 surprise players who could follow Adrian Beltre's Hall of Fame path

Matt Chapman, Free Agent

Chapman fits most neatly into Beltre's bucket, as wild as that feels to type. He's through his age-30 season. His glove has been similarly praised. The way in which we evaluate players' contributions has been altered -- in his favor -- since Beltre's heyday.

The average has to climb, of course. .240 isn't quite in the right range, regardless of current success metrics. But Chapman has the leather, the raw power, the strange homer binge season (36 in 2019), and the potential to land in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time the way Beltre did in 2010.

Coincidentally, Beltre was also forced to take a one-year pillow contract in a hitter-friendly ballpark (Boston), at which point his career turned on a dime and brought him to the Rangers for his last act. With Chapman's market slow to develop, his next landing spot very well could determine his Hall of Fame fate. No pressure.

If he falls to, say, the dry desert air in Arizona, could that launch him more prominently into the conversation? Conversely, if he signs a five-year deal in San Francisco, do those sizeable gaps choke out his power potential? What's one more hypothetical on top of an impossible-to-replicate path?

There's only one Beltre, and there always will be. But Chapman has the chops to add a second layer to this conversation, provided he lands on his feet (and is able to stay there for another decade).