Why Chase Utley is One of the Greatest Baseball Players of All Time

Chase Utley, with one of the most perfect swings the league has ever seen

          In my opinion, the greatest stat in baseball is wins above replacement. The point of baseball is to win games, so the best way to measure greatness in a player is to see how much they contribute to winning games. If WAR is the best indicator of how great a player is, then Chase Utley (who is still an all-star level player, and should be for at least the next two or three years) is one of the greatest to ever play.

          It is difficult to measure Utley's career impact in traditional counting stats for two reasons: 1: he was not called up for a full season in the majors until he was 26, due to the Phillies already having a very good second baseman in Placido Polanco (who was second only to Utley in WAR by a second basemen in the 2000-2009 decade), and 2: he missed significant time in three of his prime seasons due to injuries. However, despite his relatively short career so far, he still stacks up pretty well next to other second basemen in career stats. In terms of counting stats, he has hit 228 home runs, 10^th all time among second basemen, has a career .285/.370/.488 line through 12 seasons, and has over 1500 hits, 300 doubles, and 130 steals. He has 61.5 career WAR, good for 97^th all time, 13^th among second basemen. That's pretty good. But when you consider that he has only seven seasons in which he has played 130 or more games, that becomes downright astonishing. Measuring career WAR per career games played, he is among the all time greats. Out of the top 200 leaders in career WAR, Utley measures 22^nd all time in WAR per games played (10th since integration in 1947). Whatever anyone thinks of WAR, there are no outliers on this list. Everybody above Utley is currently in the Hall of Fame or is Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, or Albert Pujols. In fact,  of the top 75, there are only 19 (including Utley) who are not current Hall of Famers, and of those 10 are not eligible yet.

          So based on WAR, Chase Utley through his first 12 seasons is a Hall of Fame level player. But based on his 5-year injury free peak (2005-2009, ages 26-30) he is one of the absolute best players ever. Utley is 13^th all time in WAR by a player in their age 26-30 seasons. He is 6^th among infielders, and second among second basemen (only trailing Rogers Hornsby, who played almost 100 years ago). Here is the list of players #10-20 in WAR ages 26-30. Every single player other than Utley is a top-tier Hall of Famer

• Barry Bonds
• Wade Boggs
• Mike Schmidt
• Chase Utley 
• Eddie Collins 
• Duke Snider
• Tris Speaker
• Alex Rodriguez
• Ernie Banks
• Ted Williams
• Mickey Mantle

       In Utley's 5-year peak he averaged 301/388/535, with 29 HR, 39 2B, 5 3B, 15 SB, and 7.9 WAR per year. I put together this list that shows the best 5-year stretches by any second baseman since integration in 1947, ranked by WAR:

1. Joe Morgan 1972-1976:
   1. 303/431/499, 22 HR, 29 2B, 4 3B, 62 SB, 9.5 WAR
2. Jackie Robinson 1949-1953
   1. 329/430/505, 16 HR, 32 2B, 7 3B, 29 SB, 8.4 WAR
3. Chase Utley, 2005-2009:
   1. 301/388/535, 29 HR, 39 2B, 5 3B, 15 SB, 7.9 WAR
4. Robinson Cano 2010-2014
   1. 312/375/518, 26 HR, 43 2b, 3 3B, 6 SB, 7.2 WAR
5. Bobby Grich 1972-1976
   1. 263/374/410, 14 HR, 27 2B, 5 3B, 15 SB, 7.0 WAR
6. Ryne Sandberg 1988-1992
   1. 291/357/494, 28 HR, 28 2B, 5 3B, 21 SB, 6.5 WAR
7. Ben Zobrist 2009-2013
   1. 269/366/446, 18 HR, 35 2B, 5 3B, 17 SB, 6.5 WAR
8. Craig Biggio 1994-1998
   1. 308/404/477, 17 HR, 37 2B, 4 3b, 39 sb, 6.4 WAR
9. Dustin Pedroia 2008-2012
   1. 303/371/470, 16 HR, 40 2B, 2 3B, 19 SB, 5.7 WAR
10. (Tie)
    1. Roberto Alomar 1997-2001
       1. 316/391/492, 18 HR, 35 2B, 4 3B, 27 SB, 5.5 WAR
    2. Jeff Kent 1998-2002
       1. 307/378/548, 29 HR, 42 2B, 4 3B, 9 SB, 5.5 WAR

          So that 5-year stretch is the third best by a second baseman ever, only behind Joe Morgan, who is popularly acknowledged as the greatest second baseman of all time, and Jackie Robinson, another all-time great. To show how insane it is that he averaged 7.9 WAR per season over a 5-year period, these current Hall of Famers never once in their careers had a single season with 7.9 WAR or higher: Richie Ashburn, Roberto Alomar, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Lou Brock, Roy Campanella, Orlando Cepeda, Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Hank Greenberg, Harmon Killebrew, Barry Larkin, Eddie Murray, Tony Perez, Kirby Puckett, Jim Rice, Phil Rizzuto, and Frank Thomas. These are all baseball legends, deserving Hall of Famers, who never had a season as good as Chase Utley's average for 5 years.

Utley never won a Gold Glove, but he is 10th in career defensive WAR among second basemen, and third among all active players

               During Utley's peak from 2005-2009, he was the best player on a dominant Phillies team that won the NL East three times and went to the World Series twice, winning once. He finished top five in the league in WAR every single year, made 4 All Star teams, and won the Silver Slugger 4 times. However, he was often overshadowed by his outstanding teammates. In 2006 Utley hit .309/.379/.527, 32 HR, 40 2B, 4 3B, 15 steals, led the NL with 131 runs scored, and put up 7.3 WAR. But Ryan Howard had one of the greatest power hitting seasons ever, batting .313/.425/.659, leading the MLB with 58 home runs and 149 RBI and won the MVP. The next year Utley was even better, hitting .332/.410/.566, with 22 HR, 48 2B, 5 3B, 9 Sb, and 7.8 WAR. He also led the league in hit by pitches for the first time, which he would repeat for three straight years (he is 11^th all time in total career HBP). But once again one of his brilliant fellow Phillie infielders won the MVP, this time Jimmy Rollins, with a legendary season where he hit .296/.344/.531, 30 HR, 38 2B, 20 3B, and 41 steals while also winning the Gold Glove at shortstop and being the vocal leader of the Phillies. Utley's two best seasons came in the Phillies' two World Series years in 2008 and 2009, where his combined average season was.287/.388/.522, 32 HR, 34 2B, 4 3B, and 18 SB with 8.6 WAR. But there was no chance of him winning the MVP (or deserving to) during those years with one of the greatest players ever, Albert Pujols in his prime at the same time in the same league.

          Because the Phillies only won the World Series once, Utley is often forgotten as one of the greatest postseason players ever. He is possibly the best home run hitter in the history of the World Series. This is the list of all the players with more World Series home runs than him: Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Lou Gehrig, Reggie Jackson, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Skowron, and Frank Robinson. He is tied with Gil McDougald, Hank Bauer, and Goose Goslin. As with most things in Utley's career, this stat is actually much more impressive than it appears to be. Of all the players on this list, Chase Utley had the fewest plate appearances with 49. The next fewest is Frank Robinson with 106. Utley had less than half the total plate appearances of any other player on that list! Rearranging this list to see who had the most home runs per plate appearance on that list, the order looks a bit different:

1. Utley: .14
2. Ruth: .09
3. Jackson: .09
4. Robinson: .08
5. Mantle, .07
6. Snider: .07
7. Gehrig: .07
8. Skowron: .06
9. Goslin: .05
10. Berra: .04
11. DiMaggio: .04
12. Bauer: .04
13. McDougald: .03  

            Chase Utley hit a home run on 14% of his career world series plate appearances. The next best (Mr. October himself and Babe freaking Ruth) only managed to do so on 9% of theirs. Utley's 5 home runs in the 2009 World Series is tied with Reggie Jackson in 1977 for the most ever in a world series. But because the Phillies lost to the Yankees that year Utley is not remembered quite as highly as he should be in the postseason.

    

            It seems likely that Chase Utley will play another 3-5 years at a high level (since his first full season in 2005, he has had at least 3 WAR every year, even in his 83 game 2012). If he does so he should be an obvious Hall of Fame player. Some could say his years missed due to injury is an issue, however he still has had as many great seasons as almost anyone. There are only 40 players ever with 4 or more seasons with 7 or higher WAR. Utley had 5, making tied for 19^th all time with Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Mickey Mantle, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Charlie Gehringer, and Joe DiMaggio. Of the 29 other players to have at least 5 such seasons, only Barry Bonds (the all time leader with 14), Alex Rodriguez (9), Albert Pujols (8), Shoeless Joe (5), and Utley are not currently in the Hall of Fame. Of the players with 4 seasons, only Adrian Beltre, Jeff Bagwell, and Ken Griffey Jr. are not in the HOF (yet). So basically the members of the 5 7+ WAR club include 24 of the very top Hall of Fame hitters, 2 guys who would be in except for scandals (Bonds and Shoeless Joe), and 3 active players: Pujols, who will be in the Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible; ARod, who is another obvious future Hall of Famer except for a PED scandal, and Chase Utley. Utley has had a criminally underrated career, but in the end, he should be remembered as one of the absolute greatest players of all time.

All statistics in this article are from Baseball-Reference.com