Colorado Rockies: A look at the Hall of Fame case for Todd Helton

In the past week or so, the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot was released and, as expected, among the first timers, Todd Helton is on the ballot. However, considering the Coors Field bias that most of the BBWAA members have, he may be a long shot, at least this season.

Whether it’s because a disdain for Denver and/or Coors Field, ignorance of numbers, or just sheer stupidity, the Baseball Writer’s Association of America writers that have votes for the Hall of Fame do not like Rockies players but if you look at the numbers, there a couple of Rockies that should be Hall of Famers.

One of them is Todd Helton. If you are a Rockies fan who saw Helton on a day in and day out basis, you probably already know this. However, the numbers back it up.

For me personally, when I look at a player, to determine them to be a “Hall of Famer”, I want to see eight “Hall of Fame” seasons and it helps in particular if the seasons are bunched together. For Helton, I see eight Hall of Fame seasons in a row plus two more seasons after.

The seasons that are together are 1998 through 2005. In those seven seasons, these are the numbers that he posted.

His average season during this span was 157 games with 192 hits, 47 doubles, 35 home runs, 118 RBI, 94 walks, only 76 strikeouts, and a .340/.464/.620, and a 149 OPS+ (or 49 percent better than league average). The OPS+ is the big number here considering that it is park adjusted, so the “well, he played half of his games at Coors Field” don’t really have an excuse.

The other three seasons that are borderline Hall of Fame worthy for me are these three.

To me, those seasons and the other seven put him over the top, but there are a fewer other things to look at.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Obviously, he was very good offensively but, defensively, he also did very well.

He won a Gold Glove award three different times but that, quite honestly, doesn’t mean a whole lot. For example, Derek Jeter won a total of five Gold Gloves…and by Defensive Runs Saved, he is the worst fielder in all of baseball (regardless of position) since the stat was created in 2002…by 60 percent over the next worst fielder, who is, coincidentally Prince Fielder.

But for Helton, though, the numbers back up the awards (particularly in his first and last seasons in winning the Gold Glove).

In combining Helton’s Total Zone, or TZ (which is the main stat used to quantify fielding prior to 2002), and Defensive Runs Saved, or DRS (which was created just before the 2002 season), was at 61 TZ/DRS and 0 is league average.

Now, this isn’t to say that defense is really something that is looked at to the magnitude of offense (because Derek Jeter will waltz into the Hall of Fame next year because of his offense and his performances in October/November). But for Helton, is something that, if a voter is on the fence about him being a Hall of Famer, it could be something that puts him over the top.

Final Thoughts

Since balloting started, it is obviously hard to gauge where Helton will finish up on the balloting (he is on 3 of the 7 ballots made public, entering Tuesday morning). Personally, I would not bet that he will make it in this season and I would, quite frankly, be shocked if he gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

Whether it’s because ignorance, stupidity, or just a hatred for Coors Field, it’s a sad reality for Rockies fans and anybody that dons a Rockies uniform that they will likely not sniff the Hall of Fame unless something drastic changes.