Beside Mike Trout who will be the next Angels player to go into the Hall of Fame wearing a Halo?.

Most people think that Mike Trout is a shoo-in to be a Hall of Famer when he is finished playing.  But is there anyone else on their roster who could be headed there too.

Mike Trout recently won his third AL MVP Award which puts him in elite company in baseball history.  Trout now moves into a 10-way tie for second place in the most MVP awards with three.  The most recent player on that list is Trout’s teammate and mentor Albert Pujols.  Pujols won the award three times in the NL in 2005, 2008, and 2009.

The only player in baseball to win the MVP award more was Barry Bonds with seven.  Bonds’ legacy has been tainted due to alleged steroid use.  Bonds has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for that very reason despite holding numerous baseball records including the most career home runs with 762.  While Bonds may not get in the hall anytime soon, who from the Angels has a shot to be elected to the hall of fame.

Albert Pujols- 

This is pretty much a no-brainer as Albert Pujols has put of such of the best numbers of his era and is one of only three players to hit over .300 have 3,000 hits, and smack 600 homers, while driving in over 2,000 runs. The question is what hat will he will wear going into the Hall.  He will end up having 10 years with the Angels and 11 with the Cardinals. Most people assume Pujols will don a Cardinals hat when he is enshrined, but that is not a guarantee.

If those numbers are not Hall of Fame worthy then i don’t know what is.  Forget that Pujols has been in a steady decline since coming to the Angels in 2012.  He has still had three seasons with 40 or home runs and four with over 100 RBIs since joint the Angels.

Pujols has a decent chance of hitting 700 home runs, but whether he does reach that milestone or not, his career has still been phenomenal.  He should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Shohei Ohtani –

Many people will not like that I have put Ohtani on this list of potential Hall of Famers since he has only played two seasons.  However, the fact remains that Ohtani is doing something that is almost unprecedented and doing it well.

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Ohtani has shown the ability to both pitch and hit, although the pitching has been on hiatus since he had Tommy John surgery.  Ohtani won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2018 as he went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and an opponent’s batting average of .203 with 63 strikeouts in only 51 innings.

At the plate in two seasons Ohtani has hit 40 home runs and driven in 123 runs with 22 stolen bases and a .286 batting average.  All of these numbers are good, but not great. However, when you consider that Ohtani can both hit for power and average and throw a 100 MPH + fastball.

If Ohtani can sustain this over his career being effective both on the mound and at the plate, a trip to hall is very likely for the Japanese sensation.

The Best of the Rest

The rest of the Angel players chance to get in the Hall of Fame are minimal at best.  The only two potential candidates I see is shortstop Andrelton Simmons and left fielder Justin Upton.

Simmons would go in for his glove as he is probably the best fielding shortstop since Ozzie Smith. Simmons has won four Gold Glove awards in eight seasons and been a finalist in three of those years as well.

At the plate Simmons is a career .268 hitter with 67 homers and 396 RBIs with 65 steals. Again the combination of great fielding combined with slightly above average  hitting I think gives Simmons a slim chance to get into the Hall of Fame if he continues

Justin Upton is the other Angel player with a possible call to the Hall. Before you start spouting off about how bad Justin Upton is I challenge you to look at his numbers.  In the past seven years other than 2019 where he missed more than half of the season with injuries Upton has put an average of 30 homers and 95 runs batted in hitting .268. He also has stolen an average of 14 bases per season and had a .360 OBP during that time.

Overall Upton has hit 298 homers and driven in 937 runs with a .266 average and 147 stolen bases.  He has a decent shot of reaching 500 home runs if he stays on that pace for the next seven years when he will be 38.  If he becomes just a DH in a few seasons that would increase his chances of that happening.  If he is able to reach the 500 home run plateau and drive in 1500 runs with 2,500 hits.  Those are Hall of Fame-type numbers.

The biggest key for Upton is his health.  If he can stay on the field he can still be a middle of the line-up guy that could bolster the Angels offense tremendously.

Only time will tell if any or all of these players will make the Hall of Fame, even Trout is not guaranteed as of yet.  Once he starts collecting some baseball milestones like 500 homers or 3,000 hits he will be more of a shoo-in.  Let’s see what happens.