Billy Wagner is in his ninth yr on the Corridor of Fame poll. He has two probabilities left, and he is getting shut. Here is his case for moving into Cooperstown.
Wagner was one of the dominant closers ever. The flamethrowing left-hander notched 422 saves in his 16-year profession with the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Pink Sox and Braves. He racked up 1,196 strikeouts. He had a 2.31 ERA. He was a seven-time All-Star and the NL Reliever of the Yr in 1999, and he helped lead his groups to the postseason seven instances.
The BBWAA voters appear to be coming round on Wagner, too — he is made large positive aspects on the poll in recent times, as much as a career-best 68.1% share of the vote final yr. Wagner solely wants a bit extra to succeed in the 75% threshold wanted to make the Corridor of Fame. He is trending towards election in his last years of eligibility.
Listed below are 5 explanation why Wagner could be a deserving Corridor of Famer.
1) He stacks as much as the opposite Corridor of Fame relievers
There are eight relievers within the Corridor of Fame: Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley, Hoyt Wilhelm, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith, Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter. How can we evaluate Wagner’s Corridor of Fame credentials to theirs?
A technique is to make use of their reliever JAWS rating — a quantity that mixes a reduction pitcher’s complete profession Wins Above Substitute, his seven-year peak WAR, his Win Chance Added and his efficiency in numerous leverage conditions. It is an all-in-one quantity to match relievers all through baseball historical past and set up a Corridor of Fame benchmark.
Wagner measures as much as the Corridor of Famers. He is the sixth-best nearer of all time by reliever JAWS, and the one 5 relievers higher than him are already in Cooperstown: Rivera, Eckersley, Wilhelm, Gossage and Hoffman. Wagner’s reliever JAWS rating is well larger than Smith’s, Fingers’ and Sutter’s.
In different phrases, Wagner was as helpful as a Corridor of Fame reliever … so why should not he be one?
2) Solely Mo stored runs off the board higher
Wagner’s profession ERA was 2.31. His profession ERA+ was 187 — which means he was 87% higher than a league-average pitcher.
Of all pitchers within the Reside Ball Period — not simply relievers — solely Rivera, the best nearer in historical past, was higher than Wagner in these classes. Mo had a 2.21 ERA and 205 ERA+.
Lowest ERA, Reside Ball EraMin. 750 innings pitched
By ERA+ particularly, he dwarfs each Corridor of Fame reliever however Rivera. ERA+ compares a pitcher to league common — 100 is common, so Wagner’s 205 mark means he was over twice pretty much as good as that. Of the Corridor of Famers, Wilhelm (147) is subsequent after Wagner, they usually go all the way in which right down to Eckersley (116).
Whether or not you simply take a look at Wagner’s regular ERA, or modify it to see how a lot better he was than the remainder of the league when he was pitching, he was one of many highest relievers ever.
3) His fee stats are among the greatest ever
Wagner struck out hitters at one of many highest charges in historical past, and he allowed hits and baserunners much less typically than practically another pitcher.
Wagner struck out a 3rd of all of the batters he confronted in his profession and fanned virtually 12 batters per 9 innings. Nobody who’s pitched as many innings as Wagner has the next strikeout fee or Ok/9.
Highest Ok/9 of all timeMin. 900 innings pitched1. Billy Wagner: 11.92. (tie) Blake Snell / Chris Sale: 11.14. (tie) Robbie Ray / Jacob deGrom: 11.0
Highest Ok% of all timeMin. 900 innings pitched1. Billy Wagner: 33.2percent2. Jacob deGrom: 30.8percent3. Chris Sale: 30.5percent4. Blake Snell: 29.7percent5. Max Scherzer: 29.4%
Discover that each one these different pitchers are nonetheless lively. Wagner is surrounded on the Ok% and Ok/9 leaderboards by present-day pitchers, who get to pitch within the highest-strikeout period of baseball historical past.
There’s additionally Wagner’s .187 profession batting common allowed and 0.998 profession whip. Going by the identical innings-pitched baseline, his batting common is the bottom allowed by any pitcher ever, and his WHIP is third-lowest behind simply deGrom and Addie Joss, who pitched within the Deadball Period.
4) He has the saves, and the Ok’s
It isn’t like Wagner’s counting stats are missing. He is considered one of solely eight members of the 400-save membership, and considered one of solely 14 pitchers with 1,000 or extra strikeouts as a reliever.
Wagner’s 422 saves rank sixth all-time. His 1,196 strikeouts as a reliever rank fourth all-time and are a report for lefty relievers (solely Wilhelm, Gossage and Smith are forward of him).
And there is just one nearer in MLB historical past with each extra saves and extra Ok’s than Wagner. That is Smith, with 478 saves and 1,225 Ok’s as a reliever, who was elected to the Corridor of Fame in 2019.
5) He was one of many biggest archetypal closers
Wagner debuted within the Nineties, after Dennis Eckersley had ushered within the period of the ninth-inning nearer. And beginning within the mid-’90s, yr after yr, there was Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner.
Wagner recorded 9 30-save seasons. Since Eckersley’s first yr as a real nearer in 1988, solely Rivera (15) and Hoffman (14) have had extra. Amongst present closers, solely Jansen, Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman (eight every) are approaching Wagner.
Wagner additionally recorded 4 100-strikeout seasons, a rarity for a ninth-inning nearer. Since 1988, solely Dellin Betances (5) has extra. Wagner’s 10 seasons with no less than 75 Ok’s as a reliever are tied for second-most of any nearer since 1988 behind Jansen (11).
The strikeouts had been Wagner’s greatest edge over his contemporaries within the Corridor of Fame. Rivera solely had one 100-Ok season and 4 75-Ok seasons. Hoffman had two 100-Ok seasons and 5 75-Ok seasons.
