Stat corner: Who are the best players at each position not in the Hall of Fame?

In 2004, Jay Jaffe, then of Baseball Prospectus, developed a system he called JAWS (Jaffe WAR Score system) to measure a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness by comparing him to the players at his position who are already enshrined. You can visit baseball-reference.com for a detailed explanation. Using this system, which relies heavily on WAR, who are the top five retired players at each position not in the Hall of Fame? And we’ll include the three highest active players too. The ranking is where they rank among players not in the Hall.

Catcher

Average JAWS score of the catchers in the Hall of Fame: 44.0

1. Joe Mauer*, 46.8

2. Ted Simmons, 42.6

3. Thurman Munson, 41.6

4. Gene Tenace, 40.9

5. Bill Freehan, 39.3

6. Buster Posey*, 38.9

7. Jorge Posada, 37.7

14. Yadier Molina*, 33.6

First base

Average Hall of Famer: 54.7

1. Albert Pujols*, 99.9

2. Miguel Cabrera*, 57.0

3. Rafael Palmeiro, 55.4

4. Todd Helton, 53.9

5. Joey Votto*, 52.1

6. Mark McGwire, 52.0

7. Keith Hernandez, 50.8

8. John Olerud, 48.6

Second base

Average Hall of Famer: 57.0

1. Robinson Cano*, 59.1

2. Bobby Grich, 58.7

3. Chase Utley*, 57.4

4. Willie Randolph, 51.1

5. Ian Kinsler*, 49.0

7. Jeff Kent, 45.6

9. Tony Phillips, 42.5

10. Chuck Knoblauch, 41.7

Third base

Average Hall of Famer: 55.7

1. Adrian Beltre*, 95.2

2. Scott Rolen, 56.9

3. Edgar Martinez, 56.0

4. Graig Nettles, 55.2

5. Ken Boyer, 54.6

6. Buddy Bell, 53.4

11. Evan Longoria*, 45.7

21. Josh Donaldson*, 38.0

Shortstop

Average Hall of Famer: 55.0

1. Alex Rodriguez, 91.0

2. Bill Dahlen, 57.8

3. Derek Jeter, 57.4

4. Jack Glasscock, 51.5

5. Bert Campaneris, 44.9

8. Troy Tulowitzki*, 42.2

28. Andrelton Simmons*, 33.7

31. Jose Reyes*, 32.8

Left Field

Average Hall of Famer: 53.5

1. Barry Bonds, 117.8

2. Pete Rose, 62.3

3. Manny Ramirez, 54.7

4. Sherry Magee, 49.0

5. Bob Johnson, 46.6

11. Ryan Braun*, 42.5

18. Matt Holliday*, 39.5

25. Brett Gardner*, 34.3

Center field

Average Hall of Famer: 57.9

1. Mike Trout*, 61.7

2. Carlos Beltran, 57.1

3. Kenny Lofton, 55.9

4. Andruw Jones, 54.7

5. Jim Edmonds, 51.5

6. Willie Davis, 49.8

18. Curtis Granderson*, 40.9

22. Andrew McCutchen*, 39.0

Right field

Average Hall of Famer: 57.8

1. Larry Walker, 58.7

2. Joe Jackson, 57.4

3. Dwight Evans, 52.2

4. Reggie Smith, 51.7

5. Ichiro Suzuki, 51.5

24. Jose Bautista*, 36.5

26. Giancarlo Stanton*, 36.2

36. Jason Heyward*, 33.7

Pitcher

Average Hall of Famer: 61.8

1. Roger Clemens, 102.8

2. Jim McCormick, 72.4

3. Curt Schilling, 64.1

4. Mike Mussina, 63.8

5. Tommy Bond, 61.8

10. Clayton Kershaw*, 56.9

14. Zack Greinke*, 56.1

18. Justin Verlander*, 52.9

*-active