Omar Vizquel- HOF worthy?

[LBJ]

Omar Vizquel has quietly had a HOF career. Here is why. Ozzie Smith was a 1st ballot inductee to the HOF in 2002. I will compare Ozzie's numbers to Omar Vizquels. Since Ozzie had around 9,300 at bats, and Vizquel only has 8,220 I will project Omar's statistics out to 9,300 At bats. Is this fair? Yes. Omar, at the age of 38, is having yet another productive season on the SF Giants. Because he is not on the decline, it is fair to project Omar's stats out to 9,300 at bats.

OMAR OZZIE

Avg.- .275 .262
Hits- 2,559 2,460
RBI- 848 793
2B- 418 402
3B- 66 69
SB- 381 580
OBP%- .341 .337
SLG%- .359 .328
HR- 77 28
Runs- 1,336 1,257
SO- 941 589


Clearly, Vizquel was the better offensive player. I don't think that is the debate. Ozzie Smith was known for his GREAT defense. But, as you look at the numbers, Vizquel has better defensive numbers too. These stats are projected out to 2,500 games each.

OMAR OZZIE
Fielding%- .984 .978
DPs- 1,635 1,590
Errors- 183 281

Overall, it's pretty damn clear that Vizquel was the better ball player. The only argument left is "Did Ozzie Smith deserve to go to the HOF?" If you answered yes, then your vote should be yes for Vizquel too. But when it comes down to it, the only vote that matters is of the HOF. Will they choose to put in Vizquel?

[B00T]

No.

Ozzie Smith, whether fair or not, lays a claim to revolutionizing the position and set the bar where it is today. Vizquel will never have that, and thats the difference in the media's eyes.

[New001]

I don't think he'll get in, but I'd love to see it, especially in an era where offensive numbers are so inflated. Plus, from my brief conversations with him, he's a cool guy. That's got to count for something, right?

[Jack of Arcades]

The gaping hole in your analysis is your lack of context.

Taking in context, Ozzie Smith was a better hitter than Omar Vizquel.

Also taking in context, of course Omar turned more DPs than Ozzie - there were more baserunners.

To call Omar Vizquel a better ballplayer than Ozzie Smith is ridiculous.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

i'm sorry but this is insanely bad analysis.

1) in context, ozzie was a better hitter and thats not really debatable.

2) your defensive analysis is flawed. fiedling % and errors aren't actually the most important defensive stats to look at. ozzie smith by far reached more balls over his career than any other shortstop, so when you reach that many balls, naturally you're going to have a lot more chances to make plays (hence the more errors) and a lot more chances to make tougher plays (hence having a lower fielding %).

oh yah, you really can't just add in 1000+ more at bats on a 38 year old's career and assume he's not going to decline.

[Sluss]

No, and it's not even close. Vizquel was never in the top five shortstops in his entire career. While Vizquel was/is a great defensive player he was never the leader of a World Series team. He was just never great. To steal the line, "It's the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Pretty Good." And Omar was pretty good.

[AriesRam]

<i> Ozzie Smith, whether fair or not, lays a claim to revolutionizing the position and set the bar where it is today. </i>

While I agree with the general point, that Vizquel is not HOF worthy, this statement is not really correct. I think it is more fair to say that Ozzie was the last of his breed, ie the banjo-hitting, slick-fielding physically unimposing shortstop. Look at the "top" shortstops in the game today, Jeter, A-Rod (still a SS in my book), Nomar (when healthy), Tejada. None of these guys are known for their defense.

I think it is more accurate to say that Cal Ripken revolutionized and influenced the modern shortstop much more than Ozzie did.

[BWebb]

I don't know about HOF, but watching him this year as a Giants fan has been one of the few highlights. I never realized how good he actually was, especially because he didn't put up the huge power numbers or play in NY (and therefore all the incessant knobslobbing like Jeter gets). He has to be one of the most underrated players over the last decade.

[Clarkmeister]

I've always thought he was worthy of discussion for the HoF.

Though it's fair to note that Ozzie's hitting got significantly better as his career progressed.

[PTjvs]

No. Ozzie only got into the hall of fame because he was "The Wizard of Oz". Take away the backflips & put him in KC and no one today would even know who he was. Larkin has a better HOF resume than Vizquel does, and he's not going to come close to getting in either.

jvs