Which Active MLB Players Have a Shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Fox Sports

a day ago

Anyone can debate which retired players should enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. Their careers are wrapped up, all the evidence is already there. Active players are where the real game is. So let's look at which ones have the best shot of reaching Cooperstown, from oldest to youngest.
Now, we'll be reasonable: we're not going to say that 23-year-old, second-year Paul Skenes is a surefire Hall of Famer if only he can keep it up for another 15 seasons or so. You already know as much!
These candidates are those in their 30s and have strong cases. Let's look at what those players still need to do — if anything — to convince Hall of Fame voters years from now.
All statistics are through July 24, 2025.
Justin Verlander (42 years old, 20 seasons, 80 bWAR)
Verlander might not have much left in the tank these days, but that's not a problem for our purposes: his Hall of Fame election is a sure thing, as he's one of the 20 or so greatest pitchers of all-time, one who won a Cy Young at 39 with one of the greatest-ever seasons for a pitcher that age — even better than Cy Young himself at 39. For years now, FanGraphs' Jay Jaffe has used a system called "JAWS" that determines Hall-worthiness for players based on a calculation of their peak years and their career in total, using wins above replacement for inputs. Verlander's JAWS rating ranks 19th all-time among starting pitchers. Every pitcher ahead of him — and many more behind him — are already in Cooperstown, or headed there themselves.
Max Scherzer (40 years old, 18 seasons, 74 bWAR)
Scherzer is right behind Verlander in basically everything. Verlander is 11th all-time in strikeouts, and Scherzer is 12th, with both capable of entering the top 10 before they call it quits. Verlander is 19th in JAWS, among starters all-time, Scherzer is 27th. They've both won three Cy Young awards, and they were even teammates with the Tigers for a stretch there. There is no reality in which Scherzer doesn't follow Verlander into the Hall of Fame, either: they're not just two of the best of their era, but two of the best ever.
Yu Darvish (38 years old, 13 seasons, 33 bWAR)
Darvish doesn't have as obvious a Hall of Fame case as either Verlander or Scherzer, but it's there. Darvish didn't join MLB until he was already 25 years old, and he had seven years of Nippon Professional Baseball under his belt. In 13 MLB seasons, Darvish has a 3.63 ERA that translates to a 116 ERA+, with over 2,018 strikeouts and a 3.7 K/BB in 1,722 innings. In those seven years in NPB, Darvish logged 1,268 innings with another 1,250 strikeouts and a 3.8 K/BB, all with a 1.99 ERA. All told as a professional major-league player, Darvish has 20 seasons behind him at 38 years old, an ERA of 2.95, and is one of just 25 pitchers between MLB and NPB to strike out at least 3,000 batters, at 3,268 — the difference between Darvish and the rest is that he racked up those Ks in two countries.
Paul Goldschmidt (37 years old, 15 seasons, 64 bWAR)
Goldschmidt led the NL in homers with 36 in 2013 while with the Diamondbacks, and took home NL MVP honors in 2022 with the Cardinals. He's a seven-time All-Star with 370 career home runs who has also won four Gold Gloves in his career — the kind of thing that will make up for him eventually hitting "just" 400 career homers, if he gets to that point. That "if" is probably load-bearing as far as his Cooperstown chances go: if he plays until he's 40 and keeps hitting well enough until that point, the argument is easier.
Clayton Kershaw (37 years old, 18 seasons, 77 bWAR)
Kershaw is arguably the single most dominant pitcher of his generation, one with a 2.52 ERA for his entire career who was at 2.10 during his seven-year peak. He reached 3,000 career strikeouts in 2025, one of just 20 MLB pitchers to manage the feat, and every one of them is in Cooperstown — or will be, in the case of Verlander and Scherzer — besides Roger Clemens, who could still make it someday even without the BBWAA.
Jacob deGrom (37 years old, 12 seasons, 45 bWAR)
The only reason Kershaw is "arguably" the most dominant pitcher of his generation is because Jacob deGrom exists. DeGrom hasn't been as healthy as Kershaw, and he also got started far later, when he was already 26 compared to the Dodgers' lifer debuting at 20. The active MLB leader in ERA, though? That's deGrom, at 2.50. He's the all-time leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a two-time Cy Young winner despite a five-year chunk of his career where he threw between 10 and 92 innings per season. If deGrom can stay healthy for the next few years, and pitch like he has in his resurgent 2025 with the Rangers, he might just make it.
Chris Sale (36 years old, 15 seasons, 56 bWAR)
Sale is no sure thing at this point, but he won a Cy Young in 2024 with the Braves, and is a nine-time All-Star despite injuries that derailed entire seasons and beginning his career as a reliever. He's the fastest-ever to 2,500 strikeouts by innings, and, assuming health, is a lock to reach 3,000 given he led the NL in Ks and K/9 last summer, and is actually striking out slightly more hitters on a rate basis this season. He might not finish with the gaudy career totals of Verlander or Scherzer, but if Sale has even a couple of great seasons left, he'll make it onto a very exclusive list that's basically guaranteed enshrinement to this point.
Freddie Freeman (35 years old, 16 seasons, 62 bWAR)
Much depends on how Freeman ages, but to this point, he's done a fantastic job of that. He's a career .300/.387/.510 hitter, the active leader in doubles with 535 — that's good for 42nd all-time at the moment — and has 353 homers. He has a shot at 3,000 hits, depending on — again — how he ages, has made nine All-Star teams, won an MVP, and has been terrifyingly consistent for well over a decade now.
Giancarlo Stanton (35 years old, 16 seasons, 46 bWAR)
Everything comes down to health for Stanton, which is not what you want to hear if you're his Hall of Fame chances. Health has been the thing that's escaped him the most of late — even years where he's on the field, injuries can be a problem, such as in 2024 when a severe case of tennis elbow hampered his numbers. With that being said, he's 66 homers shy of 500 for his career, and that magical round number might be what it takes to get him to the Hall: he's either going to get there because he's healthy enough to hit, or fall short because he's too injured to stick any longer.
Jose Altuve (35 years old, 15 seasons, 54 bWAR)
Altuve had to move off of second base in 2025 and head to the Astros' outfield, but at least he's got the bat for it. He has a 123 OPS+ this summer, just five points shy of his career mark, and he's likely to finish his career as a member of a rare club, with 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases, a feat just eight others have achieved to this point (but likely nine by the time Altuve would get there). He's also an MVP and multi-time champion, with three batting titles and a whole bunch of Silver Sluggers on the mantle. He's not a guarantee, but the trajectory is still obvious.
Gerrit Cole (34 years old, 12 seasons, 43 bWAR)
Losing 2025 to Tommy John surgery doesn't help matters, but Cole won the 2023 AL Cy Young, has already racked up 2,251 strikeouts, and has been, health aside, incredible ever since leaving the Pirates back in 2018. He's no shoo-in, though: Cole has a whole lot of his career left to prove that he can finish what he's started, but he can't afford to lose anymore time to major injuries, nor suffer any season that resembles his work in Pittsburgh if he's to do that.
Nolan Arenado (34 years old, 13 seasons, 58 bWAR)
The thing about being the modern-day Brooks Robinson is that the actual Robinson was still a productive hitter late into his career, and a legendary fielder until nearly the end of it. Arenado is 34, but he's already slipping, as he's batting just .241/.299/.378 in 2025. The defense still provides for a lot, but he's going to need to bounce back with the bat a little bit to keep from treading water, and give himself more time to add to his career totals on the hits and homers side.
Mike Trout (33 years old, 15 seasons, 87 bWAR)
The active leader in wins above replacement, Trout has basically taken the Ken Griffey Jr. path, in that his 20s were as valuable as entire Hall of Fame careers of other players, but in his 30s, injuries have slowed him. Even with that, if Trout retired tomorrow, he'd already be Cooperstown-worthy — he has been that already for years. The thing the rest of his career is about is just how inner-circle he is.
Aaron Judge (33 years old, 10 seasons, 59 bWAR)
Judge got a late-ish start, as he debuted at 24, and wasn't a full-time member of the Yankees' lineup until the next year. He has more than made up for lost time: he's the fastest-ever to 350 homers by games played, and likely to be the swiftest to 400, as well. In 10 years' time, he's put up an entire Hall-worthy career in all but counting stats, and has done so while also being astonishingly good defensively for anyone, not just a player of his prodigious size. Judge is the greatest hitter in MLB, and one of the all-time greats in that regard. The rest is just adding on to that legacy.
Manny Machado (33 years old, 14 seasons, 61 bWAR)
Machaco might end up being a member of both the 3,000-hit and 500-homer clubs, both elite on their own, but together? A true rarity , as just seven players have achieved the feat. Now, Machado might not reach either number, or he might only get to one, but even proximity to this would be a Hall of Fame-worthy career. And he's on track to at least be close to that level of history.
José Ramírez (32 years old, 13 seasons, 56 bWAR)
Ramírez already joined the 250-250 club for home runs and steals, and is approaching the far rarer 300-300 threshold, with sights on the Barry Bonds-exclusive 350-350 and 400-400 after that. Maybe Ramírez doesn't get that high, but it would frankly be shocking if not, considering he just seems to keep getting better: in his age-32 season, the Guardians' third baseman is hitting .297/.372/.530 with 21 homers and 31 steals, and his peak just seems to keep going. His most significant hurdle is recognition: Ramírez might retire as one of the greatest players to never win an MVP, and playing in Cleveland doesn't do him any favorites as far as nationwide acclaim goes, but he's been one of MLB's best for a decade now.
Mookie Betts (32 years old, 12 seasons, 73 bWAR)
Betts is having a tough 2025, but he was so good for so long in so many ways that it might not matter if he's beginning to slip at this stage of his career. As is, despite hitting .238/.309/.370 this year for a below-average 91 OPS, Betts is now a shortstop, and his defensive is thriving there: with two-plus months of season to go, he's already been an above-average player for the year. More years like that, even if the bat has declined, will put him over the finish line. And if the bat rebounds? Then it's time for his third productive act.
Bryce Harper (32 years old, 14 seasons, 53 bWAR)
Harper has missed time like Trout, though not as much. He's had MVP-level performances, but not as sustained as those of Betts. However, any disappointment that exists around Harper has to do with his not being the best player in baseball, and instead being one who merely remains on the road to Cooperstown. Harper is batting .271/.378/.502 as a 32-year-old, with 14 homers in 78 games. His bat isn't what it was at his very peak, no, but it's still better than most, and it staying that way will be the key to his induction someday.
Francisco Lindor (31 years old, 11 seasons, 53 bWAR)
Unlike his former teammate Jose Ramirez, Lindor lives under the New York spotlight, and he's done some great things while in its glare. He hasn't won an MVP award, either, but he's put up MVP-caliber campaigns between his bat and glove: so long as they both keep up what they've been managing for a few more years, Lindor will look like a more obvious pick. There's a lot of space between then and now, though, for Lindor to fall off and short of Cooperstown.
Alex Bregman (31 years old, 10 seasons, 42 bWAR)
A player with even less wiggle room in this regard is Bregman, who in 10 years has gone from being one of MLB's very best to average and back up to a midpoint between the two. However, he also seems to have found some of the old him in Boston, as he's in the midst of his best offensive season in a few years: if he sticks with the Red Sox on his current deal or signs an extension, and continues to love hitting in Fenway, he might just make up for lost time. It's an uphill battle, however, given he's well behind the pace of Lindor at this point, but not an impossible climb.
Shohei Ohtani (31 years old, 8 seasons, 49 bWAR)
Even with the time missed on the mound, in just eight years, Ohtani has already put up a career with more value than Bregman's and just behind the likes of Lindor and Harper. He doesn't actually need to be elite from here on out to have a Hall of Fame-worthy career, given he's the most famous baseball player in the world for very good reasons — there has literally never been a player like him before, and trying to imagine another afterward is difficult to comprehend even though we know what that kind of player looks like, because he's out there every night in the present. That the production matches up with the promise is icing on the proverbial cake.
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