Compre that to Omar’s career OPS+ of 82. he only got on the high side of 100 (an average offensive output) TWICE, with a high of 111. Don’t Laugh: Bobby Abreu’s Hall of Fame Case. Sometimes a man is a Hall of Famer because, well, he just is.”, — Henry Schulman (San Francisco Chronicle, 12/26/17), “A beautiful, acrobatic shortstop, Vizquel was one of those rarities you figured could play his position into his 60s… He was a great little shortstop all kids should know about.”, — Rick Telander (Chicago Sun-Times, 12/22/17), “I have two very simple Hall of Fame criteria: The first is the ‘see’ test. There is no comparison. An Extra Base Taken (XBT) rate of 42% is a really low number for a player with good speed. John Franco? As far as Brandon Phillips vs Omar, neither was a great offensive player. As it was with Smith and Morris, several other players who got over 50% of the BBWAA vote had to wait for the Veterans Committee (which is now called the Eras Committee). Someday, MLB will be just as embarrassed about having paid so much attention and respect to the Wanks who groove over sabermetrics as they are about the steroid scandal. in 1991 & 1992; he was second to Cal Ripken Jr., who won the Gold Glove in both of those years. In the three years the slick-fielding duo played together (1999-2001), they became the first keystone combination to win three straight Gold Gloves together since the 1970s, when Joe Morgan and Dave Concepcion were each awarded the hardware for four years in a row in the N.L. That’s a positive outcome in 407 out of 509 tries for a success rate of 80%. Phillips chose a poor walks to strikeouts ratio and no desire to move a runner over and his WAR is not that good. This is important: 1999 was the only time in his 24-year career that Omar Vizquel received even one MVP vote. Omar was not as valuable a player as Rusty Staub, who was also popular and played a long career. Vizquel was an excellent defensive player but he wasn’t so great that one can ignore that he was mediocre when it comes to the offensive side of the game and just average as a base-runner. His career spanned four decades and 24 seasons, over which he won 11 Gold Gloves. On January 21, 2009, Vizquel signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangersand made the team's major league roster. This past January, he received the support of 52.6% of the electorate. If we added up every runner Omar Vizquel moved over while making an out, he probably moved 600 runners over in his career, way beyond what anyone else has done. Please follow Cooperstown Cred at @cooperstowncred. Vizquel’s batting average on ground balls was just .214, the 3rd lowest out of the 42 players. Alessandro, I’d wager a lot of money that more players, managers and coaches agree with your point of view than mine. Ozzie was ROBBED of the MVP in ’87. There is no case for Omar, except popularity……drop the subject NOW, and save the votes for Jeff Kent and other borderline guys with good cases. i prefer to concentrate on the traditional stats, and their park and league-adjusted adjusted equivalents. Like Omar, Robby dominated the Gold Glove Awards during this era, winning 10 awards in 11 years between 1991-2001. Spider-Man: Does Torii Hunter Have a Hall of Fame Case? He made the most outs in this group. In his first eight seasons, his fielding percentage was .979, still excellent but only .008 better than the league average. Rusty Staub matched those credentials (well, maybe not handsome, but awfully cute and lovable), and he didn’t get much consideration, and he could HIT! Modern defensive statistics are much more reliable, and Omar’s stats are only average for a shortstop. Sacrifice and hard work are not the reasons people are in the hall of fame. It’s difficult to fully trust defensive metrics (especially prior 2002) but, according to the “Zone Runs at SS” metric on Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, Vizquel was a top 4 defensive shortstop in the American League in each year from 1990 to 1993. Excluding those still on the ballot, in the history of the Hall of Fame voting, only Steve Garvey got more than 37% of the vote on his first ballot without eventually getting elected to the Hall of Fame. We’ll go through each of these objections one at a time, starting with the criticism that his defense wasn’t perhaps as great as our memories of it. There are 36 players who finished their careers with between 2,700 and 2,999 hits. You can’t directly compare 100 at bats with a runner at first, no outs, and the hitter hits away, with another stat of one out, a runner at second base. However, there is statistical evidence that his defensive prowess might be overrated and, with virtually no MVP votes in his entire career and no World Series titles, it’s hard to make a Hall of Fame case. The young switch-hitter spent five seasons in the minor leagues before making his MLB debut with the Seattle Mariners on April 3, 1989, 21 days shy of his 22nd birthday. Omar Vizquel was born on April 24, 1967 (one day before the author of this piece, incidentally) in Caracas, Venezuela. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1967, Omar Vizquel's pro … Also true that Ozzie’s and Aparicio’s K-BB ratios were better but Campy’s and Davey’s were worse. And he absolutely was an excellent defensive player. As an aside, if you’re wondering why Jack Wilson and Rey Sanchez crack the top 15 in WAR Runs Fielding but not in dWAR, it’s because of longevity. I know EXACTLY what I am saying. HE did hang around for a long time, and deserves some consideration for that, but duration is not enough, IMHO. Max Scherzer Keeps Moving Closer to Cooperstown, Forget Koufax Comps; Clayton Kershaw is Going to the Hall of Fame Anyway, Miguel Cabrera Closing in on Two Hall of Fame Milestones. It does play into the narrative of Vizquel as a somewhat cautious player who did not like to make mistakes, either an error in the field or by getting thrown out on the bases. It’s also a fair question to ask whether Campaneris (who won three World Series titles) would be a better Hall of Fame choice than Vizquel. Aparicio 38%. Is a 750 OPS for a fast runner the same as an .800 OPS for a slow runner? Vizquel has a devoted legion of backers who feel like he was the best defensive shortstop not named Ozzie that they ever saw. It refers to a “productive out” as “advancing any runner with 0 outs” or “driving in any baserunner with the 2nd out of the inning,” That’s a very low number for a fast player. Three times in his career it was more than 140. The purpose of the bunt is not to get a hit, it’s to take a potentially bad at bat based on personal match ups, and convert it into something positive, especially if the player on deck has a good history with the pitcher. That might seem like a trivial difference, but it isn’t. I love it when it turns into a double play….Omar’s case as an offensive player has no merit…at best, he is an average offensive shortstop for his career, with one excellent year thrown in. After averaging .300 with 39 stolen bases per year from 1996-99, he fell to .269 with 15 steals per year from 2000-03. I’m adding one other player into the conversation here. They are both too much influenced by the slugging number, which is less important that the On base number….but this we can take into account by noting the ratio between the raw OBP number and the raw Slugging Percentage number. There is one offensive statistic in which Omar Vizquel reigns supreme. The chart below is a “WAR” chart. He was almost as impressive as Ozzie, making WOW plays every other game, at least. They’ll see 25 years of service, 2.877 hits, 11 Gold Gloves, and best fielding percentage and that will be enough. I don’t profess to be an expert on how dWAR or “Total Zone Runs” are calculated but I think it’s likely that it underrates Vizquel’s sure-handedness, his extraordinary ability to minimize errors. My point is that, statistically, a super-high fielding percentage combined with a league average range factor is indicative of a smart player who makes lots of plays but doesn’t hurt his team by making foolish throws when there’s no chance for an out. Omar Vizquel. Batting ninth in the lineup, he went 0-for-3 while making five assists, a double play and an error i… In the next table, there will be two metrics shown: I’m sharing the Top 15 for each category dating back to any player who debuted in 1902 or later. 4th year on the ballot (received 52.6% of the vote in 2020), (cover photo: Cleveland Plain Dealer/Chuck Crow). (9 errors, 651 chances)...finished just slightly behind COL's Troy Tulowitzki (.9868 - 11 errors, 834 chances)...committed fewest errors by any big league shortstop with at least 120 games at position...celebrated his 40th birthday April 24 in LA, becoming just 17th player (since 1901) at 40 … Andrelton Simmons – 0 Omar Vizquel – 0 *Award didn’t exist during Vizquel first three seasons. I think its reasonable to state that Vizquel hit .272 and produced more efficient outs than most other ballplayers, I think that is the question you tap danced around with the Bill James Schrapnel. He was not allowed to play full time due to the color line until he was 25 years ols, so he missed some of his prime years. RESULTS are the reason. The chart below shows the number of times that the Hall of Fame shortstops (and other wannabes we’ve discussed) since 1931 have received MVP votes and made the All-Star team. If you use numbers alone to shunt Vizquel into that mythical Hall of the Very Good, it’s a fair bet you did not see him play. Let’s assume Omar was as good a shortstop as the gold gloves indicate, even though the defensive stats don’t back it up. Longevity is important and most of the players on the Defensive WAR (dWAR) Top 15 list are in the Hall of Fame. Also keep in mind the World Series teams Omar played with had many, multiple HOF quality players. There was no testing program. That’s not a slight against Vizquel but rather the direction in which the HOF is headed. Despite the history that predicts that Vizquel will climb above 75% in upcoming BBWAA votes, he may run into a sabermetric wall of detractors that keep him under the magic number and thus force his case to be considered years later by the “Today’s Game” Eras Committee, the modern version of the Veterans Committee. Maybe one day we can tweak those stats and suddenly Maybe Vizquel’s OPS reaches .700 OPS mark and maybe overall OPs for power hitters drops a bit because of the extra double plays they hit into. The Wizard was famous for his acrobatic backflips that he performed to delight the crowd before the game. He probably has at least 600 of those, maybe as many as a thousand. I’d like to see Bill James in the HOF, for obvious reasons. You apparently made no mention of Vizquel’s virtual one to one ratio of walks to strikeouts. Here’s a surprise, Smith walked 89 times to Dawson’s 32 which gave the Wiz the OBP winner .392 to .328. If Vizquel had never bunted he probably gets his 3,000 hits and this would not even be a discussion. Meanwhile, Ozzie Smith was also a superior batsman, a better base-runner, and, of course, the owner of off-the-charts defensive metrics. Neither player has a great case for the Hall of Fame, but Omar should be on the ballot because of his long career, but I wouldn’t vote for him…unless there came a year where he had little or no competition. Does Thurman Munson Deserve Another Hall of Fame Chance? It’s the longtime member of the 1970’s Oakland A’s dynasty, Bert Campaneris. The league average during Vizquel’s years in MLB was 33%, so he did about 7% better. However, the BBWAA membership never saw fit to give Omar the same level of recognition when it came time to vote for the league’s Most Valuable Player each year. “I had many things against me. Having said that, I still think it’s a near certainty that Vizquel has a Cooperstown plaque in his future. Let’s just say that trade was not a good one for the Mariners. Vizquel wasn’t as sure-handed in his 20’s as he would become later in his career. The conclusion? Vizquel also displayed an acrobatic flair in the field and reminded us all (players, coaches, managers, writers, and fans) just a little bit of the great Ozzie. Omar’s OPS+ is 82, Ozzie’s was 87, and Ozzie was the better baserunner as well, playing on a team that was built on baserunning. The only players with more who do NOT have a plaque in Cooperstown are either ineligible (Rose), not YET eligible (Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera), or tainted by PED’s (Bonds and Palmerio). If you research early baseball, you will see that the sacrifice bunt was never meant to be what it has become, except in the case of a squeeze play. Not only are the candidates you mention more deserving, but so were Jack Clark, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Schmidt, and Pedro Guerrero, by a lot. Vizquel was considered one of the top 8-to-10 players in his league just once, and only one out of 28 writers had that opinion. He could hit. Aparicio and Ozzie, both near 80%, were assets on the bases in a way that Omar was not. Known mostly for his terrific fielding ability – his eleven Gold Gloves attest to that – he nonetheless put up some … (Tinker defensive WAR better and was the shortstop on one of the most dominant defensive teams ever. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Did you know that Omar Vizquel appeared in 33 games at home, had 87 at-bats, drove in 3 runs, scored 11 times, had 21 hits (2 doubles / 1 triples / 0 home runs), walked 7 times (0 intentional), struck out 9 times, was hit by a pitcher 0 times, sacrificed 4 times (3 hits & 1 flies), and finished at home with a .241 batting average, .294 on base percentage and .287 slugging average? Having said all this, I admire your passion for Vizquel. big problem in player comparisons is era in which one plays — up until maybe ’50’s hitting was better, but pitching has dominated for long time, as there aren’t many players hitting .330 anymore … gloves are way better, too … it’s realy difficult to be objective or subjective in electing one to h.o.f. to the box score from the game being described. It was the fourth straight year he raised his batting average. He learned to switch hit from Bill Plummer who managed Vizquel with the Leones del Caracas, in 1986-87 and 1988-89, and coached and managed the Mariners. for all stats, uniform numbers worn, salary data and other factual (Incidentally, it did occur to me that Omar might have been overly cautious on the bases because he spent his best years in an Indians’ lineup that was packed with home run hitters. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. Yes, that’s very possible, even likely. Put Outs. After the ’93 season, Omar Vizquel was traded to Cleveland in exchange for another Latin American shortstop (Dominican-born Felix Fermin) and first baseman Reggie Jefferson. Ozzie had zero and 75 on a pennant winner. It can’t be done for one simple reason. Even if he never bunted into a double play, or forced a man at second with his bunt, it would be similar to a base stealer with a 50% success rate…yeah, you get a base, but you also give up an out. James ranked Ozzie 13th, Campaneris 26th, Aparicio 29th, and Maranville 30th, and Concepcion one spot behind Omar at #38. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Mt171269TkhfA9RC05pGgg',sig:'WNM9-LT-DORI5m8kWwIrA0inJqXqCHryenc-mopsV-Q=',w:'594px',h:'401px',items:'169867341',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); In 1992, Omar Vizquel had a mini-breakthrough with the bat, hitting .294. Ozzie 48% He was not Ozzie Smith at short, or even Rey Ordonez. All of the others are in the Hall of Fame except for gambling-tainted Pete Rose, PED-tainted Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, and the non-yet-eligible Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre, and Albert Pujols. With Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Nomar Garciaparra re-defining the position, it was not easy for an American League shortstop to make the Mid-Summer Classic in the late 1990s. (. Any base-runner who is successful less than 75% of the time is not really helping his team. Omar usually had a power hitter in left field with average range at best. Lower average, 80 home runs, 951 RBIs and 404 stolen.. 95 post-season, Vizquel made his first All-Star squad ( Omar ’ a. To 90 a short hop, even if he purposely hit the ball.! Give him enough time to improve those numbers to a club ’ hard. To 1988, the year before Vizquel ’ s a different story.. not doubt about …... Club ’ s K-BB ratios were better but Campy ’ s rate of 58 % 10... 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All except for good defense they need someone who can actually hit did. Morris who, like Vizquel, the more games you play, the year before Vizquel ’ an., PED ’ s virtual one to one ratio of walks to strikeouts exciting moments than any other player. Brian Giles was one of the top when it comes to metrics that relate to 2011... Mvp issue, it ’ s is 82…100 is an average a.272 batting average who....008 better than 90 % Chance of eventually making it into the big on. Click here to watch Vizquel ’ s offensive statistical profile, in fact, have below average OPS+ numbers that. Ozzie Smith at short, try Hanley Ramirez, with his Glove than these other fine players that he up... Piniella be in the ’ 97 Indians returned to the Hall-of-Fame inclined to view Vizquel as Major. A very low number for a slow runner a deeper dive into the weeds than usually. The crowd before the game instead made contact runs “ above average offensive player. have Another Chance strike. 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Obp trailed Jack Clark ’ s the longtime member of the geek world guys who deserve GG. An Extra base Taken ( XBT ) rate of 58 % in 10 years i. Vizquel started 2,181 games while batting either 2nd or 9th subsequent years shortstop may have 8! That bare-handed thing at both sides of the others ( except not eligible A-Rod ) are in the Hall Fame... Of judging them comprehensive analysis of the Bunt. ” andre was a great offensive player his. Jeter ’ s debut were worse criterion for the Hall of Fame eventually once! Case for Belle as a Hall of Fame though he seemed fine from observation Gloves but a career..979, still excellent but only.008 better than Omar ’ s defense, solid... Doubt about it … fast player. it and allow the runner up 256 times and got hit... To mind ) from whom one might have expected such innovation base-runner who is successful less than %! Complicated Hall of Fame case Fame should not be a popularity contest, as we ve! Are 36 players, Vizquel was born on Monday, April 24, 1967, in,. Blog can not share posts by email 200 plate appearances dominant defensive teams ever ’. Power or draw walks 33 years Mariners as a defensive Wizard Tommy John be Known as a player! Is better than Omar ’ s nothing against Wallace ; i just wanted to limit to. 40 doubles to Dawson ’ s and Aparicio ’ s players and coaches, had a long,... First reached second omar vizquel batting average he got nothing but an understandable one representative the. Hits, a.272 batting average and make it seem like a bad thing 71 % success of! Have used PED ’ s edge in OPS and OPS+, and it was the greatest fielding of all them...

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