Washington Nationals: Who will be first in the Hall of Fame as a National?

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With the 2019 Hall of Fame announcement today, we rank some of the candidates who could be the first to go in as a member of the Washington Nationals.

Today, at 6pm Eastern Time, the next group of Hall of Famers will be announced as they join the immortals of the game in Cooperstown. However, there are currently no players in the hall with a Washington Nationals cap on just yet, so we look at who could be the first.

This year’s ballot has the likes of Mariano Rivera and Roy Halladay who are set to become first-ballot entrants into the Hall of Fame. Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina are also looking likely to join them based on the current voting numbers tracked by Ryan Thibodaux.

Currently, the Hall of Fame does have a few players who have been associated with either baseball in the D.C. area, or with the franchise itself. Ivan Rodriguez and Frank Robinson both donned the current Curly W as a player and manager respectively in their career, but their plaque rightly has other teams’ caps.

The Washington Senators also have six members currently in the Hall of Fame, headlined by one of the all-time greats in Walter Johnson, who still likely holds the crown of the best to ever play baseball in the nation’s capital. But there are still no players on the ballot likely to go in as a National.

Therefore, we took a look at some of the most likely candidates to be the first to make it into the hall sporting a Curly W on their cap. First up is the completely overwhelming favorite for that honor, Max Scherzer.

1 – Max Scherzer (80%)

By far and away the most likely to be the first in the Hall of Fame representing the Washington Nationals is Max Scherzer. Ever since coming over from the Detroit Tigers in free agency, he’s been nothing short of a revelation.

In his Nats career, he has a 68-32 record with a 2.71 ERA, 0.926 WHIP a well as striking out 1128 batters in 878.1 innings. That performance has seen him become an All-Star each season while taking home two NL Cy Young awards in 2016 and 2017.

We previously looked at Scherzer’s Cooperstown credentials and why he should already be considered a lock to make it in. One example is that the only other players who have won three Cy Young awards that aren’t in the Hall of Fame are Roger Clemens, who is still on the ballot after PED controversy, and Clayton Kershaw who like Scherzer is still active to this day.

Scherzer also has very similar stats to Sandy Koufax over the last six seasons, where Koufax was a no-doubter to make it to Cooperstown. The point of this comparison is that it shouldn’t matter whether Scherzer has a few more average seasons, his peak was so good that he should already be a lock.

However, there are some who don’t consider this to be the case just yet, hence why Scherzer doesn’t end up beong the only player on this list. The other question could be that maybe he goes in as a Tiger, but that would be quite the shocker for someone who really cemented his legacy here in D.C.

2 – Stephen Strasburg (10%)

If by some complete oversight from voters and Max Scherzer doesn’t get in, the next best bet would likely be Stephen Strasburg. A first-round pick of the Washington Nationals way back in 2009, he’s been a regular in the rotation ever since.

When he’s been healthy, he’s been up there with some of the best pitchers in the game, owning a 94-52 record with a 3.14 ERA and 10.6 K/9 in his career. He’s also been flat out dominant when he’s had the chance to pitch in the postseason too, allowing just one run in 19 innings in his three starts.

Strasburg has also been a three-time All-Star and picked up Cy Young votes in 2014 and 2017 having had plenty of dominant spells in his career. However, it still feels like Nats fans are waiting for the true breakout of their right-hander.

For starters, he’s only ever exceeded 30 starts in a season once and has had 11 separate trips to the Disabled List. Thankfully, the right-hander is only 29 and has plenty of time to try and defy that narrative over the next few years as he looks to create a HoF case.

On Strasburg’s Baseball Reference page, it has Roy Halladay as a similar pitcher through each their respective age-29 seasons. Halladay seems likely to make it into the Hall of Fame at the first time of asking after taking another step later on in his career, so there’s still plenty of hope for Strasburg.

3 – Bryce Harper (5%)

Should Bryce Harper re-sign with the Washington Nationals this offseason, then his chances of being the first Nat would instantly increase. But with his future still up in the air, we leave him here at third behind Stephen Strasburg.

Like Strasburg, Harper is a former number one overall pick that has grown up with the Nationals and been a key part of the rebuilding process the team went through. He was probably the face of the franchise in that time as he was easily in the top 10 players in baseball during spells of his first seven years in the bigs.

Harper also has that unanimous MVP award that he won in 2015 on his mantelpiece when he hit .330 with 42 home runs, 99 RBI and sported a truly remarkable 1.109 OPS. He also looked set for another MVP in 2017 before a wet base forced him to miss significant time towards the end of the year.

The flipside to his argument is that despite two amazing seasons, the rest of his career isn’t quite as special. He has three seasons with an OPS+ under 120, and two seasons where he hit under .250, including 2018 where he suffered a prolonged slump to start the seasons.

If his career continues on the path that it is currently on, he would have a pretty good chance of getting into Cooperstown. But, again, the biggest problem may be that Harper goes elsewhere this offseason and ends up cementing his legacy in another ballpark, ready to go in as a member of his new team.

(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

4 – Jayson Werth (2%)

This ranking for Jayson Werth may seem high for some, but part of that comes down to the fact that he has actually retired, so gets the first crack at the ballot. But that also doesn’t change the impact that he had on the Washington Nationals franchise.

During his 15 year career, Werth slashed .267/.360/.455 with 229 home runs, 799 RBI and an OPS+ of 117. In that time, he made one All-Star appearance and received MVP votes four times in his career.

But what he was able to off the field is also credible as he was one of the key contributors to the Nationals’ turnaround. But unfortunately, that’s not a big part of the voters’ decision process, meaning Werth may not even make the ballot at all.

Werth doesn’t have the resume compared to others who may pop up at a similar time, as he was generally considered a good but not great player. The outfielder also seemed to tail off pretty significantly in final three years of his career which hurts his case too.

And even after all of that, if the voters for some reason deem him Hall of Fame worthy, which is very unlikely, he may go as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. That’s where he won his sole World Series and made a name for himself that allowed him to sign the seven-year $126 million deal in Washington.

5 – Ryan Zimmerman (2%)

The final named player in our ranking of the most likely players to go into the Hall of Fame as a Washington Nationals player is Ryan Zimmerman. The face of the franchise may not quite have the resume as others on this list, but he does have all of the intangibles required.

Zimmerman has a career slash line of .279/.344/.477 with 264 home runs, 988 RBI and a slightly above average OPS+ of 117. Much like Jayson Werth, his resume isn’t the same as other players in the hall but has the off-field aspect that voters may look for.

He’s spent the entirety of his 14-year career with the Nationals, and that looks set to continue in 2019 and possibly for a few more years after that. That type of career is so rare these days where a lot of money has been paid to free agents to lure them away from their current teams. Zimmerman’s commitment to the team and community is outstanding.

Unfortunately, it’s the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Outstanding people off the field, so Zimmerman has a huge uphill struggle to get in. Some of the names that come up as similar to him through their age-33 season are players like David Wright, Scott Rolen, and Carlos Beltran, so he could at least appear on the ballot with a strong finish to his career.

Regardless of how slim his chances to actually make it into Cooperstown are, he’s a lock to have his name enshrined in the Nats’ Ring of Honor once he hangs up his cleats. He would also likely be the first player that donned the Curly W to have their number retired with the team. That honor feels about right for Mr. Walk-Off, a true franchise hero.

6 – The Field (1%)

In all likelihood, the first player to go into Cooperstown with a Washington Nationals hat will be one of the five primary candidates that we’ve already mentioned. But by some miracle, if it’s not one of those five, we look at some very outside candidates.

Juan Soto

Yes, Juan Soto‘s career has barely gotten started yet, but under the assumption that everybody above whiffs on the Hall of Fame, then Soto may be the next best bet. The 20-year-old smashed several rookie and teenage records last season, so could easily have a HoF worthy career if he simply stays on the path that he’s already on. He also has to stay with the Nats long-term, of course.

Anthony Rendon

Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon is now heading into his free agent year, and could easily be playing elsewhere for a large portion of his career. But should he stay, which seems more likely than leaving at this point, then he certainly will have a case for Cooperstown, though he would likely finally need to get recognition from the media that he so richly deserves.

Trea Turner

In a similar vein to Rendon, Trea Turner could also easily ascend himself to Hall of Fame caliber if he can take the next step in his career. He has the all-around game that could lend itself to a HoF worthy career, especially if he can tap into the 70-steal speed that he has more frequently the rest of the way.

Next. Six Nats who could breakout in 2019. dark

After the Washington Nationals went through its infancy following to move to D.C. in 2005, it may start putting forward more and more Hall of Fame candidates. Max Scherzer is by far and away the favorite for that honor, but there could be several following suit not too long after him.

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