Todd Helton

Is one of the few guys of the last 15 years not to appear on the DraftDodgers roster. #RIPRon

 

NOT a Hall of Famer.

 

In my 15 years of covering SEC baseball (1994-2008), he was one of the three best hitters I ever saw, along with Pedro Alvarez and Tim Hudson.

 

His career road slash line: .287 / .386 / .470.

That compares favorably to several Hall of Fame first basemen.

 

I'll be curious how much support he gets. There are better players who have been off the ballot in 2-3 years.

 

I still think he has to wait on the Veterans Committee. Writers will immediately dismiss him based on the Coors Effect. Guys who played against him will be more forgiving.

 

Are there any PED questions with Helton? He had two monster power seasons and then never got close to those kind of numbers again, even though he was still good.

 

The humidor was installed before the 2002 season. Everyone's power numbers dropped. He still had 30-plus home runs for three seasons after that.

 

Helton also had a back injury/condition that sapped his power, a la Will Clark and Don Mattingly. And I'd rate their Hall of Fame credentials in that order.

 

I agree. I don't think any of them should be in, but Helton was the best of those three. Among low-power first-basemen, Keith Hernandez is way underrated.

 

If Helton ever has a shot with the writers, it will come in the final five years of his time on the ballot after a steady climb in years 5-10.

Jeff Bagwell is about to go to Year 4 and hasn't cracked 60 percent.
Fred McGriff is about to go to Year 5 and is barely over 20 percent.
Who knows what they will do with Frank Thomas in Year 1?
Carlos Delgado joins the ballot in 2015 but more importantly Jim Thome has his first year in 2018 right before Helton hits the ballot.