Adrian Gonzalez appears on 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot but is he a Hall of Famer?

The Hall of Fame ballot was released today and it included a couple of former San Diego Padres players: James Shields and Adrian Gonzalez.

Shields didn’t perform like his 2011 self when he was with the Padres but he’s obviously liked by fans because of what San Diego was able to get back for him in a trade: some guy named Fernando. I think he’s going to have a pretty good career.

Gonzalez probably should’ve stayed a Padre for the rest of his career but Peter Seidler wasn’t the guy handing out contracts at that time. With San Diego, Gonzalez hit 161 home runs, including having four straight 30+ home run seasons, and reaching three consecutive All-Star Games in his final three seasons with the club.

The now 41-year-old ended up spending parts of two seasons with the Boston Red Sox before going to the Los Angeles Dodgers for 5+ seasons. He then ended his big league career in Queens with the New York Mets.

Obviously the big question around Gonzalez is if he’ll end up being a Hall of Famer. My initial answer when I asked myself this question was no and then when we look at the numbers I think my gut first reaction was right.

Here are A-Gon’s career stats compared to four other Hall of Fame first basemen:

Some of these stats listed are accumulating stats so of course with someone like Eddie Murray who has played in over 3,000 games, he’s going to have a higher WAR than someone like Gonzalez, who played less than 2,000 games.

But if I was a Hall of Fame voter, I would vote for those who are Hall of Famers without me even having to go into the stats to think about it. There are players who are in the Hall of Very Good but probably don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. I’d put A-Gon in the Hall of Very Good.