Current:Home > NewsTodd Helton on the cusp of the Baseball Hall of Fame with mile-high ceiling broken-LoTradeCoin
Todd Helton on the cusp of the Baseball Hall of Fame with mile-high ceiling broken
View Date:2024-12-23 20:10:18
Todd Helton won’t need nearly as much staying power to earn election to baseball’s Hall of Fame than he exhibited in a 17-year career.
Helton, one of the game’s most dominant hitters at the turn of the century, is on the verge of reaching the 75% plateau required for induction, a tribute to a 10-year stretch in which he batted at least .300 and averaged 30 homers and 108 RBI per season.
While Helton called Coors Field home for each of his 17 seasons, his wizardry with the bat stretched far beyond altitude-aided home games. While playing half his games at sea level certainly dimmed some supporters from including him, Helton is getting closer every year.
He clocked 72.2% of the vote in his fifth year of eligibility, and once again should be right on the fence in this, his sixth shot. Long overdue? Let’s examine.
The case for Todd Helton
Helton played in a hitter’s haven, and his career peak coincided with the heart of baseball’s steroid era, which both affected the perception of his production and made it difficult to stand out. Those are two reasons why he never finished higher than fifth in National League MVP balloting.
HOT STOVE UPDATES: MLB free agency: Ranking and tracking the top players available.
That was in 2000, when Helton produced his greatest season, leading the majors in hitting (.372), slugging (.698), OPS (1.162), doubles (59) and RBI (147). The Rockies finished 82-80 and fourth in the NL West, and Helton ceded the 1-2 spots in that MVP race to Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds of the first-place Giants.
Helton also had to take a number behind future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza and Cardinals center fielder Jim Edmonds. Yet that MVP race might have been litigated in a different manner in this era, since Helton led the NL in Wins Above Replacement (a career-best 8.9, 75% better than Piazza’s 5.1 and markedly better than Kent’s 7.2 and Bonds’ 7.7).
That year was Helton’s best, but it was not atypical. Between 1998 – as a 24-year-old rookie – and 2007, Helton’s batting average landed between .302 and .372. He won a pair of batting titles and even though he played in massive and mile-high Coors Field, his adjusted OPS was 144 in that span, with four seasons at least 65% better than league average.
The peak was excellent. But the total resume lacked a statistical magic number that would have ensured enshrinement already.
The case against
Helton finished with 2,519 hits and 369 home runs – excellent numbers, but far from mind-blowing for a first baseman, especially considering his home park. His .316 career average, .414 OBP and .953 OPS are all Hall-worthy, but those numbers fell to .287, .386 and .855 in road games.
In 2002, after Major League Baseball began storing baseballs used at Coors Field in a humidor, Helton’s home run total fell to 30, after slugging 42 and 49 in the previous two seasons. Helton never hit more than 33 from his age 28 season until the end of his career.
Helton remained an excellent all-around hitter, posting a 165 adjusted OPS in both 2003 and 2004 before it dipped to 117 in 2006. Helton’s last great season – a .922 OPS and 61 extra-base hits in 2007 – resulted in the Rockies’ lone World Series trip in franchise history.
In his final six seasons, he retained his elite on-base profile, with a .373 OBP, but averaged just 11 home runs per 162 games, dropping him to near league-average in adjusted OPS. He retired at 39.
Voting results
Helton has made huge leaps since debuting with just 16.5% of the vote in 2019, pushing that number to 44.9% by 2021 and 72.2% last year. He fell 11 votes shy of the 292 required to reach 75%.
Realistic outlook
It’s not a stretch to suggest this is Helton’s year. He’s gained support as younger voters are added to the rolls, and is clocking 83.5% support in publicly revealed votes compiled by Ryan Thibodaux’s ballot tracker.
Privately-held voters tend not to be so generous, and Helton will again be right on the bubble this year. Yet as he begins the second half of his ballot eligibility, it’s definitely a matter of when, and not if, Helton is enshrined.
veryGood! (36784)
Related
- Jason Statham Shares Rare Family Photos of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Their Kids on Vacation
- Llewellyn Langston – Co-Founder of Angel Dreamer Wealth Society
- Emory Callahan: The Pioneer of Quantitative Trading on Wall Street
- Texas jury clears most ‘Trump Train’ drivers in civil trial over 2020 Biden-Harris bus encounter
- John Robinson, successful football coach at USC and with the LA Rams, has died at 89
- Hundreds sue over alleged sexual abuse in Illinois youth detention centers
- Florida police investigate whether an officer used excessive force in shoving a protester
- 'Trump Train' trial: Texas jury finds San Antonio man violated Klan Act; 5 defendants cleared
- Question of a lifetime: Families prepare to confront 9/11 masterminds
- 'Boy Meets World' star Trina McGee suffers miscarriage after getting pregnant at age 54
Ranking
- Could trad wives, influencers have sparked the red wave among female voters?
- When does 'The Masked Singer' Season 12 start? Premiere date, time, where to watch and stream
- Ryan Murphy Responds to Eric Menendez’s Criticism of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
- Losing weight with PCOS is difficult. Here's what experts recommend.
- Who's hosting 'SNL' tonight? Musical guest, start time, where to watch Nov. 9 episode
- Gunman in Colorado supermarket shooting is the latest to fail with insanity defense
- Video captures bear making Denali National Park sign personal scratching post
- FINFII: Embracing Regulation to Foster a Healthy Cryptocurrency Industry
Recommendation
-
Officer injured at Ferguson protest shows improvement, transferred to rehab
-
When does 'The Masked Singer' Season 12 start? Premiere date, time, where to watch and stream
-
Golden Block Services PTY LTD: English Courts recognizes virtual currency as property and the legal status of cryptocurrency is clear!
-
Man serving life for Alabama murder also sentenced in Wisconsin killing
-
Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson get Songwriters Hall of Fame nods
-
Kim Kardashian Reveals What's Helping Kids North West and Saint West Bond
-
Dancing With the Stars' Sasha Farber Raises Eyebrows With Flirty Comment to Jenn Tran
-
GM, Ford, Daimler Truck, Kia among 653,000 vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here