Hall of Fame Poll: Tim Hudson

Tim Hudson had a career quite similar to Mark Buehrle. Tim has a few more wins, a few fewer losses, not the same streak of 200 inning season, but he has 8 200+ inning seasons.

He has 36 fewer career starts and 160ish fewer innings but a better ERA (3.49 compared to Marks 3.81). In addition, Buehrle is slightly ahead in bWAR (59.1 compared to 57.9).

Hudson came up to the majors in 1999, putting up an 11-2 record and a 3.23 ERA, finishing 5th in Rookie of the Year voting. The following season he went 20-6 with a 4.14 ERA. He finished 2nd in Cy Young voting, 15th in MLB voting and made his first All-Star team.

He was part of the ‘Big Three’ starters for the Moneyball Oakland A’s (yeah, they didn’t mention the pitchers much in the movie). In 6 seasons, he had a 92-39 record for the A’s and pitched in the playoffs four straight years.

Billy Beane traded him to the Braves after the 2004 season for three guys no one remembers. In 7 seasons with the Braves, he had a 113-72 record, 3.56 ERA in 243 starts and pitched in the playoffs two more times.

Tim’s last two seasons were with the Giants, where he finally earned a World Series ring.

He played 17 seasons, 222-133 ERA in 482 games, 479 starts. He had a couple of years where he missed a few starts to injuries. He pitched over 175 innings in 12 seasons. He made 4 All-Star teams and had Cy Young votes in 4 seasons.

Hudson barely cleared the 5% hurdle to stay on the ballot his first time, but he’s worthy of staying on the ballot for continued consideration.

You can see his full stats here.