Each MLB team’s current Hall of Famer

Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer

Some will mention that Scherzer spent the most time of his career in Detroit, and while that is presently true, he’s already been more accomplished in his 3 full seasons in Washington than in his 5 with Detroit, and he still has 2018 and 3 more seasons to go in a Nationals uniform.

It is hard to argue any other pitcher right now for the most dominant pitcher in the game as Scherzer consistently is a threat to throw a no-hitter each time he toes the rubber. Thus far in his career, he’s pitched 2 no-hitters, 3 games where he left the game allowing only one hit, and an incredible 20 times he’s started a game, gone at least 5 innings, and left with just 2 hits allowed.

He’s also able to dial up absolutely dominating strikeout performances, with four games of at least 15 strikeouts, and 10 of at least 13 in his career. If you sort all pitchers who have thrown a game of 5 innings or more with 2 hits or less allowed and 10 or more strikeouts, Scherzer is already 3rd all-time with 15 such games, ranking behind Nolan Ryan (35!), and Randy Johnson (20).

At his pace with the Nationals, by the time he completes his contract, he will be 36 and have 209 wins, 2,773 innings, and 3,253 strikeouts along with a 71.2 bWAR. If you even dial those numbers down to 2,500 innings, 3,000 strikeouts, and 200 wins, there are only 15 pitchers who have made that list, and only Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling are not yet in the MLB Hall of Fame, though they are likely headed there soon the way voting trends of gone. If Scherzer were to add a few more seasons on top of that resume at the back end of his career, he’d have a good argument in the top pitcher of the generation discussion.

Next: Orioles