My arguments for his induction: -comparing him to Verlander, who started his career the same season he did, and who is a first ballot HoF, their numbers in WAR, strikeouts, and innings pitched are almost *identical* over their first ten seasons. And yeah, Verlander has postseason success on his side, but Felix has almost as many complete games, and more CGSO, despite much less playing time. If Verlander's first ballot, Felix... I'd say 6th, 7th year ballot is fair. -Individual achievements: perfect game, immaculate inning, four strikeout inning. Just one of those looks good on a resume, but who else did *all* of that? -The Edgar argument: what other pitchers do all of this, for only one team? If players get sympathy for being a franchise faithful, then surely Felix should get some points here.
If he got to 200 wins & won that 2nd AL Cy Young in 2014, he’d have a shot at the HOF. Unfortunately his arm started to wear down in 2015. His arm by 2019 was done.
My arguments for his induction:
-comparing him to Verlander, who started his career the same season he did, and who is a first ballot HoF, their numbers in WAR, strikeouts, and innings pitched are almost *identical* over their first ten seasons. And yeah, Verlander has postseason success on his side, but Felix has almost as many complete games, and more CGSO, despite much less playing time. If Verlander's first ballot, Felix... I'd say 6th, 7th year ballot is fair.
-Individual achievements: perfect game, immaculate inning, four strikeout inning. Just one of those looks good on a resume, but who else did *all* of that?
-The Edgar argument: what other pitchers do all of this, for only one team? If players get sympathy for being a franchise faithful, then surely Felix should get some points here.
If he got to 200 wins & won that 2nd AL Cy Young in 2014, he’d have a shot at the HOF. Unfortunately his arm started to wear down in 2015. His arm by 2019 was done.