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Old 12-11-2019, 07:41 PM   #808
BirdWatcher
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Location: Denver, Colorado
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WPK Hall of Fame watch

So, speaking of the Hall-of-Fame.......

(Note: when I head off on tangents like this it is usually a pretty good sign that the Brewers aren't playing that well right now and I need the distraction of focusing away from the present and my team and instead looking at the bigger WPK picture.)

No Hall of Fame has yet been established for the WPK but rumor has it that the league powers that be have been spending a good deal of time working out the details for a future Hall to honor the WPK greats.

In the meantime, it might be fun to take a look again at what players currently playing, or recently retired, might end up with plaques in that future establishment.

I found myself thinking about this yesterday and started to make three lists, just off the top of my head, not in front of the game.
They were:
1) Probable Hall-of-Famers.
2) Possible Hall-of-Famers.
3) Dark horse candidates for enshrinement.

And then last night I studied several of the metrics that will play a role in HOF voting- JAWS, HOF monitor scores, HOF standards scores, Black Ink scores, and Gray Ink scores- and compared those to my lists. (And identified a few players who should have been on one of my lists but weren't.

So let's start by looking at the three lists:
1) Probable HOF'ers: SP- Cheol-han Lee and Jake Harris, RP- Jamel McNeil, 3b/1b- Jesus Casiano, 3b- Jesus Hernandez, LF/1b- Travis Johnson, CF- Felix Lopez, OF- Ryan Rodgers, RF- Nate Bennett.
All of these are current WPK players nearing the end of their careers.
The two starting pitchers are basically locks. Cheol-han has the 2nd highest JAWS in the WPK at 68.0, his HOF Monitor score is 149 (5th), HOF Standards, 48 (4th), he is 5th in Black Ink (40) and 3rd in Gray Ink (183). Harris is pretty much the same, with a slightly lower JAWS (65.7), the highest HOF Monitor score (172), the 2nd highest HOF Standards (52), 3rd in Black Ink (45) and 1st in Gray Ink (196.)
And this season both are putting up great numbers at age 34 and 36 respectively. If they retired today they would be HOF'ers. At this point the only question is how much the rest of their careers pushes them closer to unanimous enshrinement.

Jamel McNeil is the greatest reliever of his generation and his all-time best HOF Standards score of 65 reflects that. His HOF Monitor score is a bit low for a future HOF'er at 96, but he is showing no signs of slowing down at age 34 and there is really no other reliever in the league close to his credentials.

Casiano's JAWS score ranks 12th (55.9), but his HOF Monitor score is 4th best at 155, and he is 2nd in Black Ink at 47. He is 33, still playing well, and likely a lock.
The other Jesus- Hernandez- has the highest JAWS so far at 70.4. His HOF monitor is 107 but he's not done yet so that should climb. He's 17 in HOF Standards, 28th in Black Ink, and 12th in Gray Ink. He might not be a 1st ballot HOF'er, but he should get there on the 2nd or 3rd try at worst.

Outfielder/first baseman Travis Johnson has put up great offensive numbers over his career while being just an average fielder at best. He has the 8th best JAWS (65.7), is 2nd in HOF Monitor at 167, 6th in HOF Standards, 8th in Black Ink but 2nd in Gray Ink. No way he's not a HOF'er.
Felix Lopez saw his numbers tail off a bit the past 2 seasons after suffering a pretty significant injury and he certainly isn't the Gold Glove center fielder he used to be. But 1975 is certainly looking like a resurgent year for him at the plate. With his 3rd best JAWS (67.6), 3rd best HOF Monitor (162), 5th best HOF Standards (45), 1st place Black Ink total of 54, and 10th best Gray Ink, he should be a 1st ballot HOF'er.
The Brewers Ryan Rodgers is still considered one of the greatest players in the game, but he's struggling this season since returning from an injury that cost him about a month of action. His JAWS of 66.3 (6th best), HOF Monitor score of 115 (tied for 8th best), HOF Standards score of 42 (tied for 9th best), and Black Ink and Gray Ink scores that rank 12th and 26th, he is a likely HOF'er but a few more good years would help to really put him over the edge.

Nate Bennett is the HR king (thus far) of the WPK. His JAWS of 49.4 ranks him at 20th best in the WPK history (brief as that is), but he has a solid HOF Monitor score of 138 (6th best), and HOF Standards score of 43 (7th best). He's also 9th in Black Ink and 4th in Gray Ink. He's 35 and having another fine season. He should make it.

Now- here is one that didn't make my original list of Probable HOF'ers but upon further review probably should have. He is 32 year old center fielder Brad Tesh. Tesh was the 1965 ROY and won the SJL MVP award in 1967 (I think it was '67, if not '68, not in front of game right now) but has been quietly putting up good numbers since then, without the fanfare many of these other players receive. And yet, as one of the youngest on this list (Felix Lopez is also 32), he has the 5th best JAWS score (66.5), a strong 112 HOF Monitor score, is 21st in HOF Standards, and while he doesn't rank in the top 30 in Black Ink, he is 9th in Gray Ink. With several years likely left in his career and still playing well, he has a great chance.

2) Possible HOF'ers: We'll take Tesh off this list as we've moved him up.
The others are: SP- Chris Hernandez, Jaime Schardein, Jose Santos, RP- Pat Brooks, C- Erik Buonopane, SS/2b- Andy Wilson, 2b- Josh Jenkins and Jared Hancock, 3b- Jamison Bash and Trevor Leach, OF- Cody Kane and Lazaro Lowndes.

Chris Hernandez, as reported on earlier here, is likely toast and should retire soon. He was struggling at AAA this year at age 39 and then suffered a serious arm injury that has him out well into his age 40 season. His JAWS of 49.6 ranks 19th but 5th among starting pitchers (after Lee, Harris, Santos, and Schardein). His HOF Monitor score is 108. Not great, but maybe good enough. He's not in the top 30 in HOF Standards, but he is 7th in Black Ink (32) and 11th in Gray Ink (140). He has been a fan favorite his entire career and he had the disadvantage of getting a late start as the league wasn't formed until he was already pushing 30. Almost surely not a 1st ballot guy, but he has a strong chance to get in eventually.

Jaime Schardein is a similar case with a twist. At age 39, after a slow decline the last several years, Schardein seems to have found the fountain of youth this season. His JAWS score of 50.4 is 17th best, he has a HOF Monitor score of 104, just behind Hernandez, and HOF Standards of 38 (15th). And he is 4th in Black Ink at 41 and 5th in Gray Ink at 167. He hurled the first Perfect Game in WPK history. But until this season I would have said he might be on the outside looking in. Now he looks like a likely HOF'er.

Jose Santos is one of the great gentleman and leaders of the game. At age 36 he is still a valuable member of the L.A. Spinners rotation. But unlike Lee, Harris, and Schardein, Santos is not having a great 1975. He's okay, but not up to his usual standards. His JAWS ranks 10th at 58.5, his HOF Monitor is an acceptable but unspectacular 103 (15th), he is 20th in HOF Standards (36), does not show up in the top 30 in Black Ink, and is 8th in Gray Ink (148). He might have a few more season to increase his credentials and is a borderline candidate at this point. But with his great reputation he has a good chance to make it eventually.

After McNeil, Pat Brooks has often been the most feared reliever in the WPK. And in fact he is 3rd in HOF Standards at 48. But he doesn't rank among the best in any of these other metrics. Probably only McNeil goes in from the relievers of this generation as the clear best of the lot. (Benni Heregger is 9th in HOF Standards at 42, but like Brooks doesn't rate highly elsewhere and though he currently holds the best career ERA in the WPK, he is probably not a HOF'er.)

Erik Buonopane probably should have been left off this list as he is still pretty young and should have quite a bit of career left, even though as a catcher he is starting to show some signs of decline. He shows up at 29th in HOF Standards at 32. Only time will tell.

Andy Wilson is the first former player on this list. He played the requisite 10 season and was the pre-eminent superstar of the early years of the WPK. His JAWS ranks 4th (66.6), he has a HOF Monitor score of 115 (tied with Ryan Rodgers), his HOF Standards of 43 is tied with Nate Bennett, and he's 17th in Gray Ink with 128. He can't add to these numbers of course- they are what they are. But he had a short career and was the consensus best of the game for at least part of it. He's probably a HOF'er.

Jenkins and Hancock are current stars in their prime, more or less (Hancock is only 28 while Jenkins is 32). Jenkins is 16th in JAWS (50.5), 11th in HOF Monitor at 111, 12th in HOF Standards at 39, 11th in Black Ink (23) and 18th in Gray Ink (122). He probably should have been on the Probable HOF'er list. He's not done yet and it's unlikely that he won't make it.
I might have jumped the gun a bit with Hancock, though he is 23rd in HOF Standards (35). He's young still and given time will likely put up credentials to resemble Jenkins. Too soon to tell, though.


Okay, I've run out of time right now and gone on too long anyway. So I'll pick this up later and hopefully one or two of you are still with me and not bored to tears by this exercise.
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The Denver Brewers of the W.P. Kinsella League--
The fun starts here(1965-1971: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=289570
And continues here (1972-1976): https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=300500
On we go (1977- 1979): https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=314601
For ongoing and more random updates on the WPK:https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=325147, https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=330717

Last edited by BirdWatcher; 12-11-2019 at 07:42 PM.
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