Categories: Phillies News And Rumors

Phillies news and rumors 5/27: Jayson Stark evaluates HOF cases for Harper, Realmuto

Bryce Harper (left) and J.T. Realmuto (right) will have interesting cases for the Hall of Fame. (Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)

Hall of Fame baseball writer Jayson Stark penned a piece for The Athletic this week where he examined the cases that 31 current players have to join him in Cooperstown one day.

In the piece, three current Phillies — Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Craig Kimbrel — were discussed, as was one-time Phillie Andrew McCutchen, who is back playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2023.

Stark categorized Harper as being “in the red zone,” suggesting that while he hasn’t clinched being a Hall of Famer, he’s not far off from doing so. Injuries in recent years may limit Harper’s total career numbers, but he’s a seven-time All-Star, two-time NL MVP, two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year and the 2022 NLCS MVP.

Whether Harper ultimately hits 500 home runs in his career or not — he has 288 currently — it would be rather shocking if he isn’t one day elected to the Hall of Fame, with a Phillies cap on his plaque.

Meanwhile, Realmuto was placed in the “case not closed” category with Carlos Correa and José Ramírez, essentially saying that while he’s not a likely Hall of Famer, he has better than 0% odds.

Realmuto, as Stark noted, has had a fairly extended run as the best catcher in baseball. He’s a three-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a two-time Gold Glove Award winner. If the 32-year-old remains at this level through his mid-30s, he’s going to at least be in the discussion.

The problem Realmuto runs into is while he’s had an excellent peak, it’s not quite at the level of Buster Posey or Joe Mauer, both of whom won league MVPs and still aren’t certain to be Hall of Famers. And given that Yadier Molina came up when he was 21 — as opposed to Realmuto playing his first full season at age 24 — it’s going to be hard to come close to the type of longevity that the now-retired star had in 19 years with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Again, the case for Realmuto isn’t closed, like Stark said. The average WAR 7 of a Hall of Fame catcher — the top seven single-season WAR totals in a player’s career added up — is 34.7. Realmuto is currently 27th among catchers all time in the metric at 28.4, and with another elite season or two, could find himself pushing up against that mark.

As far as Kimbrel — who is in his first season with the Phillies — he’s listed in the “used to be in the red zone” category, meaning he once seemed on pace to be a Hall of Famer, but has had a couple bad drives, so to speak. He’s an eight-time All-Star who currently has the eighth-most saves in MLB history at 400

And McCutchen — a former NL MVP who has made five trips to the All-Star Game himself — also fell into the “used to be in the red zone” category, and at age 36, it’s hard to see him drastically changing his case one way or another at this point.

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