Hall of Fame Poll: Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter is another I was going to skip, but he had a pretty good career.

He played 19 seasons in the MLB (thought the first two he played just 7 games so they really shouldn’t count). He played in 2372 games, had 2452 hits, 353 home runs and a .277/.331/.461 batting line, good for a 50.7 bWAR. He also had 195 steals.

He made it to the playoffs 8 times, but didn’t get that World Series ring. Torii was also an outstanding defensive center fielder. He won 9 Gold Gloves in center field. If Vizquel can get votes for his defense at short, maybe Hunter should get votes for defense.

He made 5 All-Star teams, had 2 Silver Slugger Awards, and got MVP votes 5 times. His highest finish was 6th.

Torii was very consistent, having OPS+ values between 102 and 129 in 14 seasons and bWAR values between 3 and 5.4 for 12 straight seasons. His peak wasn’t as high as a lot of Hall of Fame players, but he didn’t have dips in his career. He was good for several years, but perhaps never great.

I’d much rather have him in the Hall than Harold Baines, but perhaps Baines isn’t the bar we should be using. But I’d prefer Hunter over Vizquel too.

I’ll admit, Hunter, in his prime, would be an excellent fit for the Jays. I’d love to have a CFer that good with a glove and that a bat that is that consistent.