One of the key sabermetric stats used today is WAR, or Wins Above Replacement. WAR represents the number of wins a player is worth if he was replaced by a bench player or minor leaguer. Utley's career WAR as a second baseman is 65.6, which ranks 15th all time, ahead of Hall-of-Famers Craig Biggio, Jackie Robinson, Joe Gordon, Billy Herman, Tony Lazzeri, Nellie Fox, and Johnny Evers.
So that means he's in, right? Not so fast. Utley has 1,882 career hits, which puts him 38th all-time among second basemen. Placido Polanco has more career hits than Utley, as does Tony Taylor. But there are 5 guys in the Hall with fewer hits than Utley.
Utley is a 6-time All-Star. But he's never won a Gold Glove. He's an elite baserunner and has a career success rate of 87.4 percent stealing bases. The highest he ever finished in MVP voting was 7th. Since becoming a part-time player in 2015, he's hitting .236 with a .688 OPS. But in his prime with the Phillies, from 2005 to 2014, he hit .288 with an OPS of .866, which would be 5th-highest among all second basemen in history. His career OPS now stands at .825, which is 10th highest in baseball history for second basemen with at least 9 seasons played.
There are other Utley-esque players with similar numbers who haven't made it to the Hall of Fame–guys like Lou Whitaker, Bobby Grich, and Willie Randolph.
According to sabermetric guru Bill James, Utley has a Hall of Fame Monitor score of 94, which ranks 191st in history. Stan Musial is first with a score of 452, followed by Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron. Grich is at 43, Whitaker 93, and Randolph 92.
Utley had a phenomenal run in Philadelphia and might be the most popular athlete ever to play here. He's definitely in the top five. Thinking with their hearts, most would say Utley is a first-ball cinch for Cooperstown. But the numbers say he's just a hair shy. Maybe sometime down the road the Veterans Committee will select him.
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