Minnesota Twins: Making the Case for Each Twin on the HOF Ballot
By Otto Johnson
Minnesota Twins Candidate No. 3: Michael Cuddyer
Career Stats: 1536 G, 6102 PA, .277 BA/.344 OBP/.461 SLG, 1522 H, 197 HR, 794 RBI, 527 BB, 2013 Batting Title, 2013 Silver Slugger, 2x All-Star (2011 and 2013)
Hall of Fame Stats (Per Baseball Reference):
- Black Ink: 4 (Average HOF: 27)
- Gray Ink: 15 (Average HOF: 144)
- Hall of Fame Monitor: 26 (Likely HOF: 100)
- Hall of Fame Standards: 19 (Average HOF: 50)
- JAWS (Cuddyer is the 145th-Ranked Right Fielder All-Time in JAWS)
- Cuddyer: 17.7 Career WAR/15.4 7-Year Peak/16.6 JAWS
- Average Hall of Fame Right Fielder: 71.9 Career WAR/42.4 7-Year Peak/57.2 JAWS
Making the Case For: Michael Cuddyer has easily the toughest path to the hall for any of the Twins candidates. While he is certainly deserving of being in the Twins Hall of Fame as one of the best right fielders in Twins’ history, he has a tough case here.
His Batting Title gives him a huge boost, and his 15 seasons (and over 1500 games) help out his career numbers. He sits in the Top 100 for outfield assists by a right fielder, and his career fielding percentage of .986 in right field is 38th all time. He also meant a huge deal to the Twins, but that’s about it.
Making the Case Against: Bobby Abreu is the biggest detriment to Cuddyer right now. Cuddyer and Abreu played the same position, but one was significantly better than the other. Even though Abreu had an extensive and successful career, he still seems unlikely to make it in. This means Cuddyer’s chances are worse.
By every single one of Baseball Reference’s Hall of Fame metics, Cuddyer doesn’t even really belong on the ballot. He played with heart, and he will always be well liked in Minnesota, but if he receives more than 0.1% of the vote, i’ll be stunned. Chance of Induction: 0.001%