Washington Nationals: Evaluating who gets into Cooperstown

Max Scherzer seems like a lock for Cooperstown. Will any other current Washington Nationals join the righty in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

The Washington Nationals are still looking for their first Hall of Famer.

Sure, six people affiliated with the Washington Senators are in the Hall, along with four Montreal Expos. But those don’t really count for current Nats fans. The only inductee to ever spend time in a Nationals’ uniform is Ivan Rodriguez, who played his final two seasons in Washington, posting a meager .632 OPS in the process. While he had a stellar career, he never really seemed like a National.

Starter Livan Hernandez did spend five years in D.C., and is making his first appearance on the ballot this year. But he is likely to fall off the ballot after one go-around due to the Hall’s five-percent rule.

Fortunately for Nats fans, this current star-studded era of D.C. baseball has several players with Cooperstown potential.

For a franchise that has not had any postseason success, its players have certainly collected plenty of individual awards, which is the real indicator of Hall-worthy talent. Since 2009, Nationals players have accumulated 12 Silver Sluggers, two Cy Youngs, an MVP award, and 23 total all-star appearances.

So as we inch towards the Jan. 24 Hall of Fame announcement deadline, let’s run through the current Nationals players who are Hall of Fame locks, the one’s who have a chance, and who should sniff the ballot.