Omar Vizquel is occasionally cited by anti-sabermetrics baseball writers and voters as the last major bulwark that the eyes can judge and, like Ozzie Smith, anyone who has seen him play knows that he was an excellent defensive shortstop.
The Eleven Gold Gloves are strong evidence of this. But I’ve watched baseball for most of my career. Vizquelincluding his prime, and I never thought he would end up in the Hall of Fame.
The native of Venezuela played for the Mariners (1989-93), Indians (1994-2004), Giants (2005-08), Rangers (2009), White Sox (2010-11), Blue Jays (2012).
In his long career he had a batting average of .272 batting average, 404 stolen bases, an 82 OPS+, and a 45.6 WAR (Wins Above Replacement).
I have 2,877 hits (fifth most among MLB shortstops, behind Derek Jeter, Honus Wagner, Carl Ripken Jr. and Robin Yount)
His fielding percentage of .984who is the best among shortstops in MLB history, (minimum 1,000 games).
Their 2,709 games played at shortstopis the most of all time.
Their 1,744 career double plays completedis the most ever for a shortstop.
He is one of 22 players who lasted long enough to rack up more than 12,000 plate appearances. Everyone else is in the Hall of Fameexcept Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre, who is not yet eligible and Albert Pujols.
The usual debate: if Ozzie Smith is, why isn’t Vizquel?
Whenever there is talk of the candidacy of Vizquel for Cooperstown, the name of the former player of the St. Louis Cardinals floats out; Well, they were two players whose main letter of introduction was their defense. This is the first fallacy, because if we deeply analyze the numbers of both, both defense and offense, there is a big difference between them.
Offensive
In terms of hitting, you have to take into account the eras and stadiums, and Smith has an OPS+ of 90, below average and weak for a Hall of Famer, but a step up from at 83 from Vizquel.
Smith had four seasons with a OPS+ of 100 or better (league average), while Vizquel only had two. Looking at the number of runs created as a hitter (the batting component of WAR for Baseball Reference), better or worse than average, the worst number for any position player in the Hall of Fame es -229.
Vizquel is at -244, so by that metric he would be the worst hitter ever sent to Cooperstown, (Smith is at -117).
According to JAWS, the metric of Jay Jaffe which combines a player’s career overall output per WAR and his best seven seasons as a way to give players with high peaks extra weight, Omar Vizquel is the 42 best shortstop of all time.
Would be the worst shortstop in the Hall of Fame if elected. There are three currently ineligible players topping it, and none of them, Troy Tulowitzki, Jimmy Rollins, Hanley Ramírez, they are generally considered strong Hall of Fame candidates despite having much higher peaks than Vizquel.
The WAR the 45.3 from Vizquel he ranks 30th among all shortstops. Smith’s 76.5 WAR ranks sixth. Avoid mentioning Ozzie Smith if you’re trying to make the case that Vizquel belongs in the Hall of Fame.
The argument against Vizquel it’s also simple: despite his longevity, he failed to pass any of the magical thresholds. He didn’t reach 3,000 hits, or 100 home runs, or any other major offensive number, beyond 400 stolen bases.
Defending
If we focus on defense, which is the cover letter for Vizquel’s followers, we will find the difference between Smith y Vizquel.
Vizquel was a great defensive player, but Smith was on another level. baseball reference has to Vizquel with 128 races above average defensively for his career; Smith is 239 above averageThat’s a huge difference.
Safe defender, but with average range: his career range factor (outs + assists) at 4.62 per 9 innings he was just above the league average.
Despite all his Golden Gloves, Vizquel he’s ranked in his league’s top 10 in WAR just once, with a career-high 6.0 in 1999. Smith, for comparison, he reached the top 10 of his league six times.
One More Look at Defensive Metrics
The biggest selling point of Omar Vizquel for Cooperstown it’s his 11 Gold Gloves, which are the second-most by any shortstop not named Ozzie Smith. But Gold Glove voting is a largely subjective process, conducted by league managers and officials. Using an objective methodology, this table shows where it was located Vizquel in defensive WAR (dWAR) during his 11 Gold Glove seasons.
Year Def. WAR Ranking Leader Def. WAR
| 1993 | 2.5 | 2 | John Valentin | 3.1 |
| 1994 | 0.8 | T-8 | Cal Ripken | 2.3 |
| 1995 | 0.9 | 8 | Cal Ripken/ John Valentin | 3 |
| 1996 | 1.1 | T-7 | Alex Gonzalez/ Joseph Valentine | 2.2 |
| 1997 | 1.1 | T-7 | Mike Bordick | 2.4 |
| 1998 | 1.7 | T-5 | Mike Bordick/Deivi Cruz | 2.2 |
| 1999 | 2.1 | 3 | Mike Bordick/Rey Sanchez | 2.8 |
| 2000 | 0.8 | T-9 | King Sanchez | 2.8 |
| 2001 | 0.2 | T-11 | King Sanchez | 2.5 |
| 2005 2006 | 0.8 1.4 | T-10 T-7 | Jack Wilson Adam Everett | 4.1 4.1 |
In the 11 years that Omar Vizquel won a Gold Glove, he never led his league in Defensive WAR and only finished in the top four twice.
If the Golden Gloves were awarded based on dWAR, he would have none instead of 11.
Good, Does that mean dWAR is a useless stat, or does it mean Vizquel’s greatness was overrated? Well, as a point of comparison, Ozzie Smith (the undisputed gold standard in the position) won the Gold Glove award 13 times. In those 13 seasons, led the National League in dWAR (among shortstops) 10 times and finished second the other three times. So based on that information, it’s hard to just dismiss the defensive dWAR metric as categorically flawed.
In his 24 years in the league, Vizquel hit .300 or higher just once (1999). He had virtually no power in his bat (80 career home runs, 951 RBIs) and even his His career OBP was a dismal .336. SHis single-season RBI record was 72, and only twice had an OPS+ above league average.
Some players deserve to be in the Hall of Fame not because their career totals are historically impressive, but because they were great in their prime. The best moment of Vizquel it’s hard to credit because it had so few noteworthy seasons.
Vizquel he was a very good player and perhaps the safest shortstop in the history of the game. However, there is statistical evidence that his defensive prowess may be overrated and with virtually no MVP votes in his entire career. And without World Series titles, it’s hard to make a Hall of Fame case.
You be the jury!
