I’m back!! J. I’m sure everyone has missed me, and my wonderful thoughts. While I was gone, Asher went on to mention that Lofton is a future Hall of Famer in one his recent dispatches. After reading this, I had to sink my teeth into it.  

As of today, Kenny Lofton’s line stands at .299/.372/.424. His OPS+ is a pedestrian 107.  However, OPS+ is biased towards sluggers, something Kenny is/was not. So we’ll use GPA, which values OBP much more. His career GPA is .273, which is good, but certainly not hall-worthy.

He has never had more than 30 ABR (adjusted batting runs) in a season, and only has 86 career ABR. Lofton has lead the league in SB 5 times, which is certainly a good accomplishment, but nothing to look twice at. Also, despite leading the league in SB 5 years in a row, he never led the league in runs scored. Actually, he hasn’t led the league in too many things. He never led the league in OBP or runs or anything else, really. He’s lead the league in hits once during the strike shortened season, and had the most triples the next year. Other than that, he’s lead league in nothing.

“Well, what about guys like Al Kaline, Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield?” No, those players certainly did not dominate their respective leagues, but they were consistent, which brings me to another point: Lofton has only played in 150 games twice, and has played in 140 games only five times despite playing in a 162 game schedule. This is probably why Lofton’s rate stats haven’t suffered yet, but it is certainly hurting his counting stats, something that HOF voters love to look at.

As far as fielding goes, Lofton has been an adequate CF and nothing more throughout his career. He has had as many as 7 fielding runs in a season and as little as -5. Lofton has 6 career fielding runs, which doesn’t even equal a total win. Lofton actually had a very strong arm, having as many as 18 assists in one year. Lofton actually averages about 9 assists per year, but has a FA+ of -2.

Overall, Lofton has had a very, very respectable career. Palmer awards him with 17 total wins, and BJ gives him 273 career win shares. Also, if you put any merit in Baseball-Reference’s HOF monitor, Lofton scores a 37.6, while the average Hall of Famer scores a 50.

Asher, Lofton isn’t a Hall of Famer.  At least you did say he’s not a first balloter, though.