Colorado Rockies: Todd Helton makes progress in Hall of Fame Voting, but obstacles still remain

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So what’s the difference there?

Now I may not be the smartest dude in the room, but those numbers look pretty dang similar to me in terms of a “drop-off”.

So what’s influencing choosing Abreu over Helton on his ballot? Quite simply, the idea that Helton’s accomplishments came at Coors while Abreu’s came elsewhere. And while I appreciate Fagan’s choice to explain his votes and answer fans’ questions, I do not buy his rationale that someone like Bobby Abreu was a better player than Todd Helton and that one’s drop-off was better or worse than the others. They were practically the same. But this is the way many writers will perceive Rockies players unless they’re willing to do more digging.

All this does is helps to illustrate that the work is not done yet. Similar to Walker’s case, we’re going to need a continuous push through social media to help dispel the “Coors Factor” narrative that’s attached to Helton through no fault of his own. The battle is more uphill than it appears and I’m not hopeful that we’ll see as big of a jump in 2022 as we did this year with the 10th year players and incoming threats.

This doesn’t mean Helton won’t eventually make the Hall, though. With his jumps this year he set himself up terrifically to excel in his last five years on the ballot and I do believe he’ll make it in a less stressful timeline than Walker. However, there’s still work to be done to get the first career Colorado Rockie into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.