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On July 17 of last year, Christian Yelich stepped to the plate in the eighth inning of the 89th Major League Baseball All-Star Game as an above-average player and smacked a home run
Since then, the 27-year-old outfielder has been the National League’s best player He took home last year’s MVP award and solidified his shot at Cooperstown.
As ESPN notes, Yelich’s 400 plate appearances since he homered at the Midsummer Classic have him on the path to the Hall of Fame because his WAR has increased so dramatically since mid-July 2018.
Prior to that at-bat, Yelich’s most comparable player through age 25 was Chet Lemon, followed by Johnny Damon, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Fine players, but not HOFers.
Also, through his age-25 season, Yelich was the 143rd best player ever through that age by WAR. Thanks to the tear he went on following the ASG, he ended his age-26 season 88th for that age with a 26.5 WAR. That mark does not guarantee him a Cooperstown plaque, but if definitely has him on his way.
“This year, he’s third in baseball (behind Cody Bellinger and Mike Trout) with 1.9 WAR through Sunday,” according to ESPN. “Just three more WAR this year — in line with his pre-explosion career levels — would push him past 31 career WAR, even further ahead of the Hall of Fame pace, which is about 23 WAR through age 27.”
Whether he makes the Hall or not, Yelich has a great chance of adding some hardware to his trophy collection as his hot bat has him in the hunt for his second consecutive MVP award as he has a .353/.456/.859 slash line this season to go along with 13 homers and 31 RBI.
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