Omar Vizquel’s Hall of Fame prospects should improve this year

In a land of shortstops, Omar Vizquel fielded his position with the best to ever come out of Venezuela. He rates up there with the only Venezuelan in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the legend Luis Aparicio.

If the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot focused mainly on defensive brilliance, there’s no doubt that Vizquel would have already been enshrined among the immortals in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The entire resume is under consideration, though, when the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is considered by veteran members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The 2020 class has only one sure lock, and that’s another shortstop.

Only Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who wasn’t exactly brilliant in the field, appears destined to cruise to election when the class is announced in January.

A year after legendary Yankees and Panamanian closer Mariano Rivera was the first unanimous Hall of Fame selection by the BBWAA, his former teammate Jeter highlights the 18 new candidates on this year’s ballot. Will Jeter be the second unanimous selection? Will Vizquel and Andruw Jones see major bumps, as expected?

Will Vizquel perform better in his third year on the ballot than fellow Venzuelan great Bobby Abreu, who makes his debut on the ballot this year. Abreu and Alfonso Soriano, are the top two new Latino candidates on the ballot. Of those two, Abreu might have the easiest path to Cooperstown, N.Y., once BBWAA members take a close look at his career.

There are 14 holdovers on this year’s ballot, including Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramírez, Vizquel, and Jones. Eric Chávez, Rafael Furcal, Raúl Ibañez, Carlos Peña and José Valverde are the other new Latinos on the ballot.

Today, we take another look at Vizquel’s candidacy.

.272 BA/.336 OBP/.352 SLG — 45.3 WAR — 36.0 JAWS

By Efraín Ruiz Pantin

Omar Vizquel descends from a distinguished line of outstanding Venezuelan shortstops that began with Chico Carrasquel in 1950 and includes Vizquel’s idol David Concepción, Oswaldo “Ozzie” Guillén and the only Venezuelan in the Hall of Fame, Luis Aparicio.

Vizquel had wonderful instincts, superb footwork and soft hands. An elegant artist in the diamond who also paints as a hobby, Vizquel was a three-time All-Star and won 11 Glove Gloves, including nine straight.

The case for Vizquel

Vizquel played 24 seasons from 1989 to 2012 with the Mariners, Indians, Giants, Rangers, White Sox and Blue Jays, setting records at the position with 2,709 games played, 1,734 double plays and a .985 fielding percentage. Artistry and longevity are two good arguments for any shortstop.

Only Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, with 13, won more Gold Gloves at the position. Vizquel made barehanded plays seem routine. When he teamed up with Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar for three seasons in Cleveland, he turned double plays into an art form.

Despite his lack of power, Vizquel finished with 2,877 career hits, exactly 200 more than Aparicio, making him the all-time leader among Venezuelan major leaguers. In his best offensive years, from 1994 to 2001, his 162-game average equaled .286 with 32 doubles and 36 steals, helping the Indians reach the World Series twice. His WAR compares favorably with Rabbit Maranville and Phil Rizzuto, two shortstops who are in the Hall of Fame.

The case against Vizquel

For all his hits, Vizquel was not a run producer or an offensive threat. He hit .300 once, hitting 10 or more homers only once. Vizquel did lead the league in sacrifice bunts four times. He finished a season with an OPS+ above 100 — the league average — only twice.

While Vizquel stole 404 bases — 71st on the all-time list at the time of his retirement — he was caught stealing 167 times. His 70.8 percent success rate puts him way below fellow shortstops Smith (79.7) and Aparicio (78.8) as a baserunner. Vizquel simply didn’t do enough to make up for a weak bat.

What the metrics say

Modern metrics have not been kind to Vizquel. His career WAR is 31.2 points behind Smith and 10.4 behind Aparicio. According to JAWS, or the Jaffe WAR Score, a metric that averages career WAR with the player’s 7-year peak WAR and was created to compare players to those enshrined in Cooperstown — Vizquel lags far behind the 54.8 average for Hall of Fame shortstops.

And while Smith and Aparicio weren’t known for their power, they made up for it with their baserunning and range in the field. Vizquel clearly didn’t make errors, but his 28.4 defensive WAR lags behind Hall of Fame shortstops Smith, Cal Ripken Jr., Joe Tinker, Aparicio, Maranville and Bobby Wallace. In Vizquel’s defense, most of the defensive metrics are not as reliable as those for pitchers and batters. Yet according to them, he was a better shortstop starting at age 35, which goes against logic. 

Greatest moment

In Game 6 of the 1997 World Series when the Indians need to win to force a Game 7 against the Marlins Cleveland was ahead 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Marlins put runners on second and third base with two outs. Charles Johnson hit a soft liner between third and short that seemed destined for left field.

Vizquel lunged headfirst, trapped the ball, bounced up in the same movement and threw out Johnson with a hard and accurate throw to end the threat. On the biggest stage of all, Vizquel painted an instant masterpiece.

Fact you probably don’t know

Vizquel preferred Rawlings gloves, but refused to break them in. While his contemporaries would put them in microwaves or tie them up with a ball in the pocket, he liked his gloves to be as stiff as possible. His theory was that soft, pliable leather made it more difficult to transfer the ball to the throwing hand.

“When you talk about soft hands, you’re talking about cushioning the ball as it travels in the same path and stopping it in the same movement,” Vizquel said. “When I give clinics, I tell kids to think that they are fielding an egg. You have to catch the egg without breaking it.”

Hard gloves, soft hands. In that regard, Vizquel was unique. It remains to be seen if that’s enough to reach Cooperstown. He received 182 votes last year in his second stint on the ballot, securing votes from 42.8 of the ballots. He needs to get up to 75 percent. He should climb a bit this year, but it remains to be seen just how much.

Featured Image: Jamie Squire / Getty Images Sport

Inset Image: Brad Mangin / Getty Images Sport