Edwin Encarnación’s Hall of Fame Case Is More Interesting Than You Think

Comparing Encarnación to Other Hall of Famers

One of the angles in the Hall of Fame debates is how the player on the ballot stands up against similar players enshrined in Cooperstown. When taking this route with Encarnación, he actually stacks up decently against other primary first basemen currently in Cooperstown.

For starters, Encarnación’s 424 home runs rank 18th on the all-time list for first basemen. Notably, this total is above Hall of Famers such as Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, Gil Hodges, Todd Helton, and others, with none of these players even eclipsing the 400 home run mark.

Encarnación also has quite a few more home runs than other likely future Hall of Famers such as Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, and Joey Votto. In fact, Encarnación joins Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols as the first basemen in the 2000s to eclipse the 420 home run mark.

While Encarnación’s 1,832 hits may seem small in comparison to most Hall of Famers, he does beat out quite a few Hall of Famers in this area. Two-time MVP Hank Greenberg finished his Hall of Fame career with over 200 fewer hits than Encarnación, showing just how close he stacks up against some of the best first basemen of all-time.

I previously mentioned Orlando Cepeda when comparing Encarnación’s home run totals to those of other Hall of Famers, and the two actually compare quite closely across the board.

They both possess the same on-base percentage of .350, while coming close in other areas. Cepeda beats Encarnación’s slugging percentage and OPS by just three points, showing just how close these two really are. Also, Encarnación’s wRC+ of 125 finished just six points below Cepeda’s mark of 131.

Encarnación hit at least 32 home runs from 2012 to 2019, a seven-year stretch that was rare to come by among other Hall of Famers. In fact, Eddie Murray, Harmon Killebrew, David Ortiz, Jim Thome, and Willie McCovey never had a seven-year stretch where they hit at least 30 home runs a season.

Encarnación also has more individual 30-home run seasons than Eddie Murray as well, which really speaks to the power he had during his seven-year peak.

To make this streak even more impressive, his first season with 30 or more home runs came during his age-29 season, and only ended during his final year in the big leagues, which happened to be a 60-game, COVID-shortened age-37 season.

While Encarnación notably fails to stack up in many areas among some of the game’s Hall of Famers, he does also stack up quite nicely in some areas. If he has any chance of earning recognition on his first ballot, these numbers will be a significant supporting detail in his case.

Encarnación’s Place in Baseball History

In my opinion, one of the most underrated aspects of the Baseball Hall of Fame is its purpose as a museum and to preserve baseball history. While this can often be done through the inclusion of individual artifacts in the museum, some players provide so much to the game’s history that they deserve a mention in the Hall of Fame.

Edwin Encarnación just so happens to be one of these players. You can’t tell a significant part of baseball history without mentioning the Blue Jays teams in the mid-2010s that Encarnación was a part of. Even some of the most iconic moments in baseball history are a direct result of Encarnación’s playoff heroics.

In the 2016 American League Wild Card round, Encarnación hit one of the most iconic playoff home runs of all time, sending the Blue Jays to the ALDS in walk-off fashion. Although the Blue Jays ultimately fell short in the 2016 ALCS, this team was one of the best in the team’s history.

It’s impossible to tell the story of the Toronto Blue Jays without mentioning Edwin Encarnación, as he played a key role on some of the best teams in the franchise’s history. Not only did he have big playoff home runs during his tenure, but his 150 wRC+ on the division-winning 2015 team was one of the biggest reasons for their success.

Although other performances have ultimately meant more to their team in the long run, players making the postseason for their playoff heroics or historic moments isn’t unheard of. Just take Bill Mazeroski, for example, as he managed to sneak into the Hall of Fame despite subpar career numbers due to his World Series-winning walk-off home run.

At its core, the Hall of Fame is meant to preserve the history of baseball, and enshrining Edwin Encarnación is a great way to accomplish this goal.

Edwin’s Road to Cooperstown

Unfortunately, despite possessing some Hall of Fame worthy metrics, Encarnación’s path to the Baseball Hall of Fame will not be easy. The voters have rejected a long list of worthy candidates with much better metrics than Encarnación over the years, showing just how tough the voters can be.

One of the most recent examples of this is likely the voters’ rejection of Carlos Delgado. Despite posting over 44 fWAR and nearly 500 homers, Delgado failed to even stay on the ballot more than one season. He’s currently eligible once again, thanks to the Veterans Committee, but this could mean Encarnación’s uphill battle may be quite difficult.

Also, Edwin Encarnación’s career numbers have a hard time stacking up against Adrian Gonzalez, a player who failed to receive even 1% of the vote during his only year on the ballot in 2024. With a first baseman of Gonzalez’s caliber failing to seemingly even get a look, blood may be in the water for Encarnación’s candidacy.

One of the biggest things holding Encarnación back will be his lack of fWAR. He only recorded 33.5 fWAR during his career, and the voters have turned away numerous first basemen with over 50 fWAR. Some of these players are even scandal-free, which makes this an even tougher reality to face.

He may have a chance to receive enough votes to remain on the ballot due to the weak nature of this year’s class. This would open up room for discussion in years to come, which could have positive results on his chances.

Ultimately, all signs point towards Encarnación being more of a “Hall of Very Good” caliber player. With voters rejecting players with better resumes than his over the years, it’s going to be difficult for him to stand out.

However, even if Encarnación falls short of Cooperstown, his candidacy is better than you may believe. Sometimes, the point of these conversations is to give very good players the credit their careers deserve, and if nothing else, I hope that this will be the case for one of the 2010s’ most prolific power hitters.