Why David Wright's Hall of Fame Chances are Improving

This kind of leap ensures that Wright, who gained 15 votes in this cycle, will be safe from dropping off the ballot by receiving less than five percent of the total vote. Wright's Hall of Fame case is complicated, and it may take the full 10 years for him to garner enough support to be voted in.

One good comparison to watch with Wright is the process for another former Met, closer Billy Wagner, who needed all 10 years on the ballot to earn his place in Cooperstown. The gains Wright made on Tuesday now put him ahead of the pace that Wagner was on, which could be a very good sign for Wright down the road.

Several Future Developments Could Bode Well for David Wright's Hall Of Fame Chances

There is no question that Wright's spinal stenosis, which basically cut his career completely short after 2015, ruined his chances to sail into the Hall of Fame. Wright was one of the best third basemen in the game in his prime and still finished with 1,777 hits, a .296 career batting average and 970 RBI in just under 6,000 career at-bats.

As the electorate of the Hall has shifted towards younger writers, a new perspective is emerging that is putting more weight on players who were dominant for shorter stretches of time as opposed to those who played longer to compile gaudy statistics. A good example comes with the election of Andruw Jones, who was the best center fielder in baseball for a decade but saw his career fall off a cliff after he turned 30 years old.

The eventual election of Chase Utley should also help Wright's candidacy. Utley, who is up to 59.8 percent of the vote in his third year on the ballot, is sailing towards induction despite having only 108 more hits, 17 more home runs, and 55 more RBI than Wright with an extra 1,001 plate appearances.

Wright also made more All-Star teams (seven to Utley's six) and won two more Gold Gloves than Utley (who never won a Gold Glove) while having a higher career batting average by 21 points. The real point that should push Wright's candidacy forward is the arrival of Buster Posey on next year's ballot, which should serve as a referendum on the candidates with more pronounced peaks.

Posey, a three-time champion with the Giants who won an MVP while batting .302 for his career as a catcher, is widely expected to sail into the Hall of Fame on either the first or second ballot. A close look at the numbers show that Posey would be setting some wild precedents for election as he finished his career with only 1,500 hits, 158 home runs and 729 RBI.

There is a clear case to Posey's dominance at his position, given his seven All-Star appearances in a 13-year career and five Silver Slugger Awards, which is the same argument that can be made for Wright at third base. Wright's OPS+ (which is a measurement of how much better a player's OPS was in comparison to the league average during their playing career) was 133, meaning Wright performed 33 percent better than the average player during his career, which is higher than several third basemen who have been elected like Scott Rolen and Adrian Beltre.

Posey's election should help the candidacies of players like Wright, Dustin Pedroia and Felix Hernandez, who were among the best in the sport at their respective positions for relatively short periods of time. It may take all 10 years for Wright's case to be fully examined but it looks as if he has a fighting chance to eventually join Beltran in Cooperstown.

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