Evaluating 5 former New York Yankees up for 2022 Hall of Fame election

2. Mark Teixeira

Teixeira played first base for 14 years in the MLB, including a stint with the Bombers from 2009-2016. During his career, Teixeira slashed .268/.360/.509 with a 127 wRC+. He had great power and finished with 409 home runs. He’s only one of five switch-hitters to reach the 400-homer plateau.

Tex compiled only a modest 50.6 WAR/38.0 WAR7/44.3 JAWS during his career. He also ranks 31st all-time among first basemen by JAWS, which is not great. Still, he’s one of the greatest defensive first basemen, with 104 DRS at the position.

Although Tex was considered a good hitter, his wRC+ ranks only 47th all-time among first basemen with at least 5,000 PA. There are 20 players at his position whose career wRC+ is equal to or superior to Tex’s seven-year peak average of 141. Yet, his .997 fielding percentage on defense is off the charts.

Usually, first base is where managers put big bats because their weak fielding skills will do the least harm. If one compares and contrasts the top first basemen of all-time by JAWS, one will find a number of poor defenders (Jim Thome, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, and Willie McCovey, to name a few).

Finally, Tex does not compare well to other first basemen in the HOF in terms of WAR; he’s well under the Hall average for career and peak. First basemen have provided many all-time great bats that raised the bar too high for Tex’s excellent defense to overcome. Overall, Tex doesn’t meet the HoF standards at his position in terms of hitting.