Who could be the next Diamondbacks representative in the Hall of Fame?
By Jake Oliver
Zack Greinke possibly could wear a Dbacks hat when he goes into the Hall of Fame
I won’t hide my fandom or adoration for Zack Greinke. He’s one of my favorite players to have played for the team ever. He changed the world of baseball for me showing that a player can be reserved, quiet, “awkward”, and be himself in front of thousands of fans, cameras, and players. He didn’t change anything about himself no matter the circumstances.
That’s why I was absolutely shocked the team paid up to get him in free agency. It was exciting and enthralling. I couldn’t believe my small-market team paid to get him. If only our owners hadn’t forced us to get rid of him in 2019, even though I still love the return that we got for him from the Astros.
Greinke pitched with the team from 2016 to mid-2019 after being traded to the Astros. That’s the 2nd longest stint he has had with any team in his 18-year career. The only longer portion was his Royals tenure with which he debuted. That would be the only other team that I consider to be more a threat to the hat he wears. During his time with the Royals, he did win a Cy Young award and make the All-Star team once.
Yet, 3 out of the 4 years he was with the Dbacks resulted in him making the All-Star team. This period is also the most awarded year in his career. From 2016-19, he won 4 Gold Gloves, 1 Silver Slugger, a 4th place finish for Cy Young, and 3 three All-Star selections.
He helped mentor and lead a rotation of himself, Robbie Ray, and Patrick Corbin to the playoffs and contention for multiple years. He turned his career around after a miserable debut year with the Dbacks in 2016.
His overall stats for his long career that isn’t over yet, are 219-131, 3.38 ERA, 17 complete games, 5 shutouts, 1 save, 3098.2 innings, 708 walks, 2799 K’s, and a 3.42 FIP. He has a lengthy award list: 1 CY Young, 5 top-10 CY Young vote finishes, 6 All-Star selections, 6 Gold Gloves, 2 Silver Sluggers, and 1 top-10 MVP vote finish.
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If that isn’t enough for you, he has 69.1 WAR and 5.1 batting WAR. Combined, those are good for 74.2 WAR. That’s enough career WAR according to JAWS for a pitcher to make it to the Hall of Fame. It says that the average for a pitcher in the Hall is 73.3 for their CAREER. Zack is still pitching!
If you want another metric, you could say that Zack’s a HoF’er based on the Hall of Fame Monitor which says that if you have a score of around 100, you’re likely to get in. Well, Zack has 115. Again, he isn’t done playing yet either.
Zack’s a free agent at the end of this season and I sincerely hope that he somehow finds his back to the desert. It would truly be awesome. At the very least, I really hope he decides to rep the Dbacks in the Hall when he eventually gets in. He’s been excellent for so many years and will surely get in.