Zack Greinke: Hall Of Fame Worthy?
Photo by George Kubas / Getty Images
With the 6th overall pick in the 2002 MLB draft, the Kansas City Royals would select Zack Greinke, a Right-handed pitcher out of Apopka High School in Apopka Florida. He would flourish through the minor leagues, establishing himself as one of the best young pitchers at the time. He would make his MLB debut on May 22nd, 2004, against the Oakland Athletics. This would be the start of 19+ year long career for Zack (currently with the Royals), that would see him on 6 different teams, 6 All-Star appearances, 6 Gold Gloves, 2 ERA Titles, and a Cy Young award, a case can be made for Greinke’s admission in the esteemed Hall of Fame but, let’s dig deeper.
For his career, Zack has a record of 224-149 with an ERA of 3.47 across 3,328 innings. Zack has more wins than certain Hall of Famers such as Katfish Hunter, Don Drysdale, and John Smoltz in less innings than them. The reason these 3 are listed is due to they are similar in terms of there career performance. They are all within 125 innings of each other. All have 1 Cy Young Award. Greinke and Smoltz have a much higher strikeout total than Hunter & Drysdale. When looking at their Wins Above Replacement (Baseball Reference), the order goes:
Greinke - 76.8
Smoltz - 69.0
Drysdale - 67.1
Hunter - 40.9
WAR isn’t the one above all stat but it does give a better breakdown into the overall value a player brought through their career.
Digging into Greinke’s peak, it shows that his case get’s stronger. When taking Greinke’s 7 best seasons, which are ‘09, ‘13, ‘14, ‘15, ‘17, ‘18, ‘19, he averaged:
16 - 6 W/L record, 2.64 ERA in 206 innings
When taking into account Zack Greinke’s peak & longevity, it is a very compelling argument that he is indeed a Hall of Famer. It is likely that he will retire following the 2023 season and it will be interesting to see whether the sports writer will vote him in when he is eligible to be on the ballot.
