BY PETER HOUSTON – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
If you want to know how many Toronto Blue Jays’ franchise records Carlos Delgado holds, it would be easier to count the ones he doesn’t have.
“King” Carlos did just about everything in his 12 years with the Jays. He hit for average. He got on base. He hit for power. When the Blue Jays add his name to the Level of Excellence during the 2013 season, they should probably put it on the glass ceiling of Windows restaurant in homage to all the home runs he hit off it.
The news that Delgado will have his name included on the Level of Excellence got me thinking; just how good was King Carlos? After a bit of research, I feel comfortable saying that Carlos Delgado was the best hitter in Blue Jays history.
There are certainly many who could make the case. Tony Fernandez, for sure. How about Roberto Alomar? Or George Bell?
There are probably legitimate arguments for all of them, and maybe more, but here’s the one for Delgado. He is the franchise leader in offensive WAR at 36.6 (No. 2 Tony Fernandez is at 31.4). He is the franchise leader in home runs (336), RBIs (1,058), walks (827), slugging percentage (.556), OPS (.949) (second in OBP at .392), runs (889), total bases (2,786), doubles (343), extra-base hits (690) and intentional walks (128).
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He does have more plate appearances (6,018) than any of his competitors, but not by much. Tony Fernandez has 5,900 (and actually played in more games than Delgado, 1,450 to 1,423); George Bell has 4,883, Roberto Alomar 3,105 (OK, that’s big difference). But Delgado didn’t become the best hitter in franchise history by longevity alone. None of those hitters ever had a better season than Delgado’s best in 2000, when he put up a 7.7 offensive WAR.
Interestingly enough, even though Tony Fernandez had a better career average and is the franchise leader in hits, Delgado had a better single season average than Fernandez by a mile. In 2000, Delgado hit .344 while Fernandez’s best season was the year before when he hit .328. Obviously, Fernandez was a lot more consistent in terms of his average over his years with the Jays, but Delgado was actually far better at getting on base. Delgado’s .392 career OBP with the Blue Jays is second to John Olerud’s .395, while Fernandez doesn’t even crack the top 10.
But Delgado didn’t just have a couple extraordinary seasons like 2000 during his time with the Jays, he was consistent his entire time. Of the 10 best seasons a Blue Jay hitter has ever had in terms of OPS, Delgado accounts for 6 of them (’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, ’02 and ’03).
As you can see, the case for King Carlos is not a hard one to make. Good for the Blue Jays for recognizing the best hitter in franchise history.
All hail the King.
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