Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
The National Baseball Hall of Fame released the ballot for the 2025 cycle on Monday, with a cast of characters both returning and debuting for the first time on the ballot. The new batch of candidates features a no-brainer like Ichiro Suzuki while featuring a slew of debatable players who are worthy of conversation. Also making their debut on the ballot for the first time is a pair of Colorado Rockies legends: Carlos González and Troy Tulowitzki.
It’s hard to conceive CarGo getting much acknowledgment in the voting process unfortunately, but the same can’t be said for Tulo who presents an interesting albeit complicated case when discussing his MLB career.
Drafted seventh overall by the Rockies in 2005 out of California State University, Long Beach, Tulo had a rapid ascension to the big leagues. Spending most of the 2006 season in Double-A Tulsa, Tulo slashed .291/.370/.473 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI in 104 games. He then jumped from Double-A to the majors on August 30, 2006, making his MLB debut after playing just 126 minor league games. In his brief 25-game stint in 2006, Tulo batted .240/.318/.292 with a home run, kicking off a career that would feature regular dominance when he was on the field.
During his 13-year career, Tulowitzki was often considered one of the best all-around shortstops in baseball. He helped buck the stereotype that shortstops must be smaller slap-hitters that mainly focus on defense. Standing 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 205 pounds, Tulo was an evergreen threat at the plate while also providing Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop.
He spent 10 years in Colorado, batting .299/.371/.513 slash line with 188 homers in 1,048 games while receiving five All-Star selections, two Silver Sluggers and two Gold Gloves. In 2007, his best season by rWAR (6.8), Tulo narrowly finished second in Rookie of the Year voting after slashing .291/.359/.479 with 24 home runs and 99 RBI as an integral part of the National League Champion Rockies that season. He received MVP votes in six seasons while in Colorado, including fifth-place finishes in 2009 and 2010.
He places in the top 10 in most Rockies offensive categories, including fourth in rWAR (39.5), fourth in walks (435), eighth in RBI (657), seventh in doubles (224), eighth in home runs (188) and tied for eighth in batting average (.299).
Following his trade to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015, Tulo turned in one final strong season in 2016 where he batted .254/.318/.443 with 24 and 79 RBI in 131 games, posting a 3.2 rWAR, the most since he put up 5.7 rWAR in 2014. He ultimately retired in 2019 after injuries plagued him from 2017 to 2019, limiting him to just 71 games with the Blue Jays and New York Yankees.
Over 13 seasons, did Tulo do enough when on the field to garner much consideration for the Hall of Fame though?
His name certainly pops up among other great shortstops. He finished six seasons with at least 5.0 WAR, putting him in a group with Ernie Banks, Alan Trammell, Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra and Francisco Lindor. His 5.6 rWAR average certainly sits higher than the average Hall of Fame shortstop (4.9) and while his 42.2 JAWS places him 28th among all-time shortstops and below the 55.5 average of 23 Hall of Fame shortstops, it is still better than six other Hall of Famers.
Additionally, his 40.7 rWAR during his seven best seasons is nearly on par with the average for a Hall of Fame shortstop (43.2), placing him 21st overall. The only non-Hall of Fame shortstops ahead of him on the list on are Jim Fregosi (41.0), Jack Glasscock (41.0), Francisco Lindor (41.3), Nomar Garciaparra (43.1), and Alex Rodriguez (64.3). His 119 wRC+ is in line with Derek Jeter on the all-time list while his 224 career home runs place 14th among all shortstops in baseball history.
Beyond the offense, however, Tulo was one of the best to ever field the position. In his rookie season in 2007, he led all MLB shortstops in fielding percentage (.987), putouts (262), total chances (834), assists (561), and double plays turned (114), not to mention he also turned an unassisted triple play.
His career .985 fielding percentage is tied with Omar Visquel for the best in baseball history at shortstop (minimum 10,000 innings) while his 94 defensive runs saved are the second-most by a shortstop. His 41.4 ultimate zone rating places him fifth all-time behind speedy shortstops like Jimmy Rollins and Andrelton Simmons. For the Rockies alone, his 13.9 defensive rWAR ranks second in franchise history behind Nolan Arenado’s 15.6 defensive rWAR.
Words and stats sometimes don’t fully paint the picture of his defensive wizardry, instead, you have to see it to believe it.
It was a common agreed-upon sentiment that Tulo was on a Hall of Fame trajectory. However, by a cruel twist of fate, Tulo’s body would not allow him to play the amount of games you’d expect a player of his caliber to play.
In his 13 seasons, Tulo played at least 150 games just twice in 2007 and 2009. From 201 to 2019 Tulo played more than 100 games in a season just three times. Injuries to the lower half, particularly his legs, feet and groin, consistently plagued him as he missed at least 30 games in 10 of his 13 seasons. When healthy he was a menace on the field, but the reality is that the injuries limited him to just 1,291 games. He made the most of his time on the field, but the inability to stay on the field for a whole season kept him from reaching certain thresholds in offensive categories like hits and home runs.
So much more could be said about Tulo’s career and the individual moments and memories he made. Suffice it to say that he was one of the best to ever do it at his position, but the shadow of what could have been will always linger over his legacy. I don’t expect him to get elected to the Hall of Fame, but my hope is that he can garner enough conversation and interest to at least earn him the recognition he deserves and perhaps reach the 5% needed to stay on the ballot another year.
If he does drop off the ballot, it behooves the Rockies to repair the bridge, bring him home, and honor his legacy in purple with a Hall of Fame of their own.
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