By request, here’s some analysis about Joe Carter’s Hall of Fame chances. We all know that Joe Carter is Soundgarden, but is he a Hall of Famer?
Joe Carter on Baseball-Reference
Joe Carter has Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Orlando Cepeda among his comparables, and he did have 10 seasons of 100 or more RBIs. Those are about the only ways in which Joe Carter can be considered a Hall of Famer. He also has Ruben Sierra, Jim Rice, and Dale Murphy among his comparables, three of the most overrated players out there. A five-time All Star with four seasons in the Top 10 of MVP voting, Carter relied heavily on the batters ahead of him to pad his RBI totals. Fortunately, Roberto Alomar and Brett Butler, both with fantastic on-base percentages, batted ahead of Carter for a long time.
Given how much of his resume is related to the ability to get on base, you would think that Carter learned something, and managed to get on base at a respectable clip. Not so much: Carter was below the league-average park adjusted on-base percentage in 15 of his 16 seasons. Most seasons, it wasn’t even close, and Carter’s career .306 on-base percentage is putrid.
Carter played exactly 2 of his 2189 career games at positions other than first base, left field, right field, and designated hitter. Though he added almost nothing in the field, Carter did steal 231 bases at a barely acceptable 78 percent rate. That’s his strong point because for a power hitter, his .464 slugging percentage is not terribly impressive.
Joe Carter won two World Series, and hit a season-ending home run. He played 16 years in the Majors and earned in the range of $50 million, all told. But he’s far from a Hall of Famer. There are probably a thousand players, statistically, who deserve to make it before Carter.
