Class of 2013 -- HOF prospects

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

It will be interesting to see how the Hall of Fame standard for starting pitchers adapts over time. I would expect the answer to the the same way it always has...painfully slowly.

There are four active starters I'd say are pretty much HOF locks: Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and to a lesser degree Zack Grienke.

After those guys...who's the next active SP who makes the HOF? Sale? deGrom? Cole? Of the three, I like deGrom's chances the best, but even those rely on some re-thinking of the HOF standard.

Beyond those three? Anyone's guess!

I think these 4 would make the Hall if they retired tomorrow and never pitched again. They are shoe in's.

Sale, DeGrom, Cole are all possible but all have played very little even by the reduced standards of now. Sale has barely played since 2019 and has lost most of his early 30's. Degroom has pitched less than 100 innings since 2019. He has 1,326 at age 34, which even now is extremely low. Cole is 2 years younger than Sale, he might have the best trajectory for the long term.

I don't think anyone else is a serious contender at this point.