Chase Utley is a Borderline Hall of Famer

Earlier today, Chase Utley announced that he will retire after the 2018 season. The Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman is a six-time All Star over 16 seasons, and he won a World Series ring with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. The big question that baseball fans are already debating is whether or not Utley deserves a spot in Cooperstown?

As our weekly baseball analyst, Jay Jaffe points out, no second baseman with fewer than 2,000 hits in the post 1960 expansion era has ever made it to the Hall of Fame. Utley currently has 1,880 hits but he only has 30 hits in 147 at-bats this season. Despite his low hit total, he hit 146 home runs between 2005 and 2009 when he had his five best offensive years for the Phillies. Despite all of the injuries that have slowed Utley down after those peak seasons, he is known as one of the game's great competitors. Whether or not he will one day be enshrined in Cooperstown remains to be seen.