Jeff Kent - Greatest Slugging Second Baseman

by Harry Pavlidis on Jan 22, 2009 10:15 AM EST

There's no doubt in my mind, and this makes me think the voters will agree in five years. R.J. has something coming up shortly that also makes a strong case for Kent in the HOF.

The linked report includes all second basemen 1300 games, 85% at second base

Jeff Kent ranks:

RBI  1
HR   1
XBH  1
SLG  1
ISO  1
GIDP 1
SO   1
2B   2
OPS  2
HBP  2
TB   3
IBB  5
RC   5
RP   5
H    6
Outs 6
Runs 7
OPS+ 7
AVG  8
TOB  8
BB  14
OBP 18
CS  25
SB  32
3B  32

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Tango has a good post on this

Pegs Kent as marginal for the HOF.

by Harry Pavlidis on Jan 22, 2009 11:10 AM EST reply actions

Kent will be close

Numbers that compare to Sandberg (4 spots behind Ryan in Total Win Shares). Going to be close for him.

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jan 22, 2009 11:20 AM EST reply actions

There was a pretty good discussion on him at BBTF with a few posters saying that he just misses the mark of the HoF. It made me double-take a little, because I’ve tended to not think about Kent’s defense and just his offense, which was pretty good.

My bigger question is not if he belongs or not — he’s probably marginal like Tango is proposing — but if the MSM will even care? He’s got the most HR’s all-time for a 2B and an MVP, I think he’s probably a lock to get in.

Bay City Ball | Beyond the Box Score

by xanthan on Jan 22, 2009 11:47 AM EST reply actions

I agree

That’s why I looked at these numbers. Watching Kent play all these years told me his defense was adequate (I may be generous), and not enough to kill his offensive contributions. Tango’s analysis makes me think about it a little more, but, I do think the MSM will go for it. It sure will be an interesting debate. We’ll let it sit for a few years and re-visit it ;-)

by Harry Pavlidis on Jan 22, 2009 3:18 PM EST up reply actions