Jorge Posada's Hall of Fame case

Last week, the Pinstripe Alley staff submitted our personal Hall of Fame ballots. While a quartet of legends was enshrined last year, 2016's ballot lacked star power. Newcomer Ken Griffey Jr. will surely make it on the first go-around. After that, though, things get dicier. Trevor Hoffman will most likely earn a plaque, but there's a chance he will have to wait a year or two. Players like Jim Edmonds and Billy Wagner merit a brief pause, but ultimately they aren't quite voteworthy, particularly amidst the Steroid Era ballot bottleneck.

So where do we go from here? Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell barely missed induction last year. Both are right on the threshold and, if there are baseball gods, should find their place this summer amongst legends. That's good because there's going to be a veritable conga line of qualified candidates in the coming years.

Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero and Ivan Rodriguez are all eligible for induction in 2017. PED concerns aside, all three were terrific players who possessed surefire Hall of Fame ability. However, in case having those guys on the ballot doesn't make you feel old enough already, a fourth hopeful joins them. Funny, when I think of Jorge Posada, I imagine him as part of an entirely different foursome. It's almost ironic to see Posada on the ballot alongside these other three players, all of whom I still consider to be the Core Four's mortal enemies.

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When evaluating a player's HOF credentials, the litmus test usually involves stacking his numbers up against those of his peers. However, there are shockingly few catchers already in the Hall of Fame—just 17 in total. I expect there will soon be two more, once (if?) Piazza and Pudge Rodriguez are voted in. So let's say 19. Of that number, seven of them (Roger Bresnahan, Buck Ewing, Deacon White, Ray Schalk, Josh Gibson, Biz Mackey and Louis Santop) played either in the Negro Leagues or the Dead Ball Era, rendering them useless for comparison.

Instead, let's examine Posada's numbers as he stacks up against the nine other Cooperstown catchers (plus Piazza and Pudge, of course).

First of all, what in the hell made Rick Ferrell so special? That dude must have been quite the pitch framer. Yeesh...

While Posada doesn't set the pace in any of the above offensive categories, he's certainly in the mix. Some of his stats are more encouraging than others. He's third in career slugging and he trails Detroit's Mickey Cochrane ever so slightly in walk rate. However, Posada's strikeout rate is by far the highest on the board and his .273 batting average ranks third-from-last. Still, I'll cut him some slack on the batting average due to the era in which he played. While his on-base and slugging are toward the higher end of the spectrum amongst Hall of Famers, none of Posada's numbers particularly stand out.

Another part of synthesizing a candidate's career is examining their peak. Not to mix positions, but it's the classic Sandy Koufax/Bert Blyleven debate. Is it more important to be highly dominant in a short window, or steadily productive across many years? Although Posada made his debut in 1995, he didn't exceed rookie status until 1997. He played until 2011—a total of 15 full seasons. While some of his compatriots like Fisk and Rodriguez had longer careers, a decade and a half is nothing to scoff at. If we narrow the timeline to fit Posada's career, it's clear he dominated his position.

During his 15-year window, Jorge Posada was the best offensive catcher in the American League. Capturing five Silver Slugger Awards, as well as five All-Star nods, Posada set the batting standard for backstops during his time in the league. Never a tremendous defender, Posada was nevertheless decent in the field. He didn't have a great arm but he received well enough and, until the end, was better-than-terrible at run prevention. Certainly, he was better than Piazza. It's also worth mentioning that after he assumed full-time duty in '98, Posada failed to play at least 110 games only once. Injuries limited him to 51 games in 2008.

Posada was also a terrific clubhouse presence. Though Derek Jeter enjoyed the glory that befits the captaincy, Posada was the club's emotional leader throughout much of his time in pinstripes. However, he didn't always click with the pitchers. While David Wells made it no secret that he loved throwing to Jorge, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia preferred personal catchers (Jose Molina in CC's case and John Flaherty for RJ). Maybe it's something about lefties, who knows?

While Posada was certainly one of the best offensive catchers of his generation, he truly peaked between 2000 and 2007. The Puerto Rican native reached his apex in 2003, when he batted .281/.405/.518 while belting 30 homers and finishing third in the MVP voting. He remained effective into his late 30s, too. Posada's career was surprisingly lengthy for a player who didn't become a full-time starter until he was 26 years old. Anyhow, here's how Posada measures up to the rest of the league during his eight-year peak.

By Fangraphs' WAR, Posada was the best catcher in baseball during his prime seasons. While Rodriguez had a longer, more consistent career (not to mention a bazillion Gold Gloves and an MVP), it's fair to say Posada owned the 2000s. Across the board, his numbers rank either at or near the top among all catchers during this timeframe. It doesn't hurt that the Yankees made the playoffs in every single one of those seasons, either.

As a switch-hitter, Posada's career deserves extra esteem. It's extremely hard to switch-hit at the Major League level and it's extremely hard to catch at the Major League level. Posada is the rare specimen that excelled at both. Though he's 16^th among all catchers in career WAR, only Ted Simmons was more valuable than Posada among switch-hitting catchers all-time. Unfortunately, Simmons isn't in the Hall of Fame either. Posada leads all switch-hitting catchers in home runs, RBI (1065) and slugging (.474), and his 965 walks trails only Mickey Tettleton. It might sound unbelievable at first, but Jorge Posada is the best switch-hitting catcher in Major League history.

Posada is also distinguished by his postseason acumen. Only three other catchers (Berra, Varitek, and Javy Lopez) notched even half of the 416 playoff at-bats Posada accrued. Jorge's playoff sample size is by far the largest of any catcher and he's got five rings to show for it. Between his debut in '95 and his retirement in '11, the Yankees missed the playoffs just once, in 2008. Fittingly, the year the Yankees went home early was also the season injuries forced Posada to do the same. Posada's postseason slash line of .248/.358/.387 is a step back from his regular season numbers, but that's typical. The caliber of pitching is much higher in October. Though Posada has 11 postseason home runs, he never hit more than one in a given series. Still, his game-tying RBI double in the eighth inning of the Aaron Boone Game remains one of the clutchest hits I've ever seen. That's gotta count for something, right??

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Ultimately, Posada's career, illustrious as it is, isn't quite deserving of a place in Cooperstown. He was one of the best, if not the very best, catcher in baseball for a long time but his numbers are a tick subpar when compared to the players already enshrined in the Hall. There are some fantastic catchers—Ted Simmons, Joe Torre, Thurman Munson—that have meant a great deal to the game that are still on the outside looking in (Torre was enshrined as a manager). In order to break through and earn eligibility, a catcher has to doubly distinguish himself. Even Piazza, by most measures the greatest hitting catcher ever, didn't receive enough support in his first year on the ballot.

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Jorge Posada—forever my favorite player on the dynasty teams of my youth—was a man with a big bat, bigger ears and an even bigger heart. His off-the-field charity work through his foundation has been admirable. He's even written a children's book! Sadly though, I think he's more suited for the Hall of Very Good than for the Hall of Fame. Instead, he'll have to settle for a plaque in Monument Park, a retired number, eternal hero status in the Bronx, and the distinction of being arguably a top-3 catcher in Yankees history. Some consolation.

What a career. Boy, did Georgie ever juice one.