Several San Diego Padres are representing their respective countries in the World Baseball Classic. How many of them are going to the Hall of Fame?
The World Baseball Classic is upon us, and the San Diego Padres have 13 organizational representatives, including its top stars.
Third baseman Manny Machado and shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. are representing the Dominican Republic, right-handed closer Mason Miller will be suiting up for the United States and Xander Bogaerts will be playing for the Netherlands.
Although the Padres position players were having a slow spring training before departing for their respective country’s clubs, Machado’s two hits were both home runs and he leads the team with seven RBI, Tatis had a .400 on-base percentage with three hits and three walks, Miller struck out five batters in three clean innings and Bogaerts has been the leadoff man for new manager Craig Stammen, indicating the manager’s trust in the veteran to get things going early.
And while these players are the best on the Padres and dominate Major League Baseball year-in and year-out, have they done enough in their careers to earn a Hall of Fame bid when it’s all said and done?
ESPN’s David Schoenfield tackled that question for these four guys and separated players based on four tiers: locks, likely to get in, on the right path and you never know.
In Schoenfield’s opinion, Machado was the only lock while Tatis is on the right path and you never know about Miller and Bogaerts.
“In general, 60 career WAR makes you a strong Hall of Fame candidate,” Schoenfield wrote Monday. “Machado is already at 61.7, entering his age-33 campaign while still playing well, if no longer an MVP candidate. He's also going to end up with some impressive career counting numbers as he's over 2,000 hits with 369 home runs and 1,144 RBIs, which gives him a good chance to join Mike Schmidt as the only third basemen with 500 home runs and 1,500 RBIs.”
Machado has been incredible since entering the league with the Baltimore Orioles as a 19-year-old in 2012. He’s a seven-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger, two-time Gold Glove winner and has a Platinum Glove on his mantle as well.
Tatis has to put together a few more big offensive seasons while maintaining elite defense to continue his Hall of Fame trajectory, according to Schoenfield. Losing the 2022 season to a PED suspension will certainly throw a wrench into his voting when he’s on the ballot, but not every PED user is banned from getting in, and he may get some leeway because he was supposedly attempting to cure his ringworm.
The 27-year-old is nearly halfway to the 60 WAR threshold and if he can hit around his career OPS of .868 into his mid-30s, he definitely has a shot.
Bogaerts is a weird one to consider as he’s had a great career up to this point, but his offensive production has dipped tremendously in recent years.
“He’s at 42 career WAR but slipping, with a sub-100 OPS+ each of the past two seasons,” Schoenfield wrote.
Bogaerts has a lot of term left on his contract as well, so he will need to play like the Boston Red Sox version of himself to give himself a chance.
Miller made his debut in 2023 and is already 27, so age isn’t on his side, but he has been so dominant that Schoenfield thinks a 10-year stretch as the top closer in the game could be enough to get him into Cooperstown.