Not to spoil the conclusion for this edition of Cooperstown Chances, but Yadier Molina will one day have a plaque in the Hall of Fames hallowed gallery.The Cardinals lifer might not get to Cooperstown in his first year on the ballot, but he has my vote, and hell have the votes of plenty of my BBWAA colleagues when he appears on the ballot with the rest of the cla s of 2028. Hes already announced that 2022 will be his final season in the bigs, and his contract for next season is already signed.But Molinas case is, admittedly, a bit polarizing. Today, were going to take an honest Ken Daneyko Jersey look at both sides. I wanted to be up front about the conclusion, though.MORE COOPERSTOWN CASES | | Talk with most anyone in the sport, and theyll extoll his defensive virtues at length, his very real historically elite skills that have consistently helped his Cardinals win baseball games he made his debut in 2004 and the Cardinals have finished below .500 only once in his career (six games under in 2007). You will find very few if any people who have competed with or against him who will say he falls short of the Cooperstown standard. Most everyone Ive every talked with about Molina not only says hes a Hall of Famer, but insists he is.But numbers are tricky for catchers, more so than any other position. Baseballs statisticians have made strides in the past few decades, as we can now look at things such aspitch-framing, but overall the metrics still fall short (as the sabermatricians will readily admit). And its not their fault. I mean, how can you put a number on the way a catcher calls games? On the way a catcher works with his pitchers to get the best of out them? Things of that ilk are of primary importance for the position, but good luck quantifying those elements of the game.Of the numbers that are easily defined, Molina often lags behind other catchers. His offensive numbers, especially, are not the equal of many of the 16 New Jersey Devils Kids Jersey catchers currently enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Hes not Johnny Bench or Yogi Berra, not Roy Campanella or Mike Piazza. Theres no argument there, even among those who support his induction.I asked Cardinals manager Mike Shildt admittedly, not an unbiased observer during a recent pregame Zoom se sion what people who dont see Molina as a no-doubt Hall of Famer are mi sing about him.First of all, weve got to start drug testing because there are some people, if they are doubtful of that guy going into the Hall of Fame, man, we need to maybe have an intervention, Shildt said with a laugh. But its a good question, and Im glad you asked it.Lets jump in. Molina is a 10-time All-Star and a nine-time Gold Glove winner, and though both of those have an element of popularity involved in the selection proce s, thats still impre sive. Hes a four-time Platinum Glove award winner, given since 2011 to the player deemed the best defensive player in the league, regardle s of position. Molina has a pair of high MVP finishes, coming in fourth in 2012 and third in 2013.The esteemed Bill James created his Hall of Fame Monitor in an attempt to Devils P K Subban Jersey measure the things that are often important to Hall of Fame voters. A score of 100 is a likely Hall of Famer. Molina checks in at 169. Back in January 2019, I asked Johnny Bench, maybe the greatest catcher of all time, whether he thought Molina was Hall of Fame-worthy."Oh, I do. I really do," he said. "The longevity, first of all. Hes a leader. A great catcher, a receiver, a thrower. He hasnt ever hit for a lot of power, but hes hit in clutch situations. The RBIs have built up."Though hes never been a middle-of-the-order thumper with the bat, he does have more than 2,000 career hits and a .280 batting average, including five seasons above .300. He has 168 homers and is closing in on 1,000 career RBIs (hes at 983). Neither 2,000 hits nor 1,000 RBIs make the foundation for a Cooperstown argument, but when theyre seen as secondary parts of a resume, thats important.And, as Bench alluded to,youll hear the clutch word thrown around when describing Molinasoffensive game; thats partially because he has a career .312 average in 39 NLCS games and a .328 average in 21 World Series games. He hit .412 when the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series and hit .333 with nine RBIs as St. Louis claimed the 2011 title.Adding to that is his .302 career batting average with runners in scoring position, contrasted with a .260 mark with the bases empty. Debate the definition of Nico Hischier Men Jersey clutch all you want, but its clear that Molina has performed better during the course of his career when the moments are more important.The numbers can paint a picture, but they dont paint the complete picture, Shildt said. His ability to navigate through a game and figure out in real time how to work with what the pitcher has that given day and how to get guys through it is really special. By Baseball-References defensive WAR calculation, Molina ranks 15th all time, at any position. Hes second, behind Ivan Rodriguez at catcher. In the Total Zone Runs stat, hes 21st all time, at any position. Hes again behind only Rodriguez at catcher. Hes the active leader in caught stealing percentage (40.3 percent).Heres a stat that stumbled acro s my Twitter timeline earlier this year that really struck me.In this story is this graphic, which makes a pretty damn good Hall of Fame case for Yadier Molina.It plots total attempted stolen bases vs. each team since 2005, Molina's first as the STL starting catcher.Look at how MLB teams changed the way they approach games vs. Molina! Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) Yep.We dont give up a lot of free bases, Shildt said. He blocks unbelievably. He makes some of the most amazing blocks youll ever see in big situations. Guys dont look to run on him. He controls the game. Hes just a special, special talent and does things that really cant be quantified. That lack of quantifiability of his special talents is where Molinas case hits a few bumps. Lets start with the basics, the WAR/WAR7/JAWS slash line. Thats a players career WAR, the best seven individual years by WAR and JAWS, a system created by Jay Jaffe to help compare players over different eras. Here are the average numbers for the 16 catchers in the Hall: 53.8/34.8/44.3. Now, Molina: 41.7/28.7/.35.2.Yep, theres a difference. The top six catchers, as rated by WAR, were all outstanding impact hitters: Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk, Mike Piazza and Yogi Berra. As we mentioned earlier, even Molinas most staunch proponents will Martin Brodeur Kids Jersey not claim that he is on their level offensively. The numbers clearly back that up.Those same proponents will tell you that, for example, the gap between Molina and Piazza defensively is oceans wide. By defensive WAR, the gap is