JAWS and the 2023 Hall of Fame Ballot: Andre Ethier

The next article is a part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing take a look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2023 Corridor of Fame poll. For an in depth introduction to this 12 months’s poll, and different candidates within the sequence, use the device above; an introduction to JAWS might be discovered right here. For a tentative schedule, and an opportunity to fill out a Corridor of Fame poll for our crowdsourcing undertaking, see right here. All WAR figures check with the Baseball-Reference model until in any other case indicated.

It could be an overstatement to name the Dodgers’ acquisition of Andre Ethier a turning level within the franchise’s historical past, however when the staff snagged him from the A’s in December 2005 in change for infielder Antonio Perez and outfielder Milton Bradley, it had made simply three postseason appearances and received a grand complete of 1 playoff recreation within the first 11 years of the Wild Card period — one playoff recreation since profitable the World Collection in 1988, even. In the course of the course of Ethier’s 12-year profession, the Dodgers reached the playoffs eight instances, and whereas accidents restricted his position on the finish, he signed off with a pinch-hit RBI single in Recreation 7 of the 2017 World Collection, and retired because the franchise chief in postseason video games performed (51).

As a Dodgers common from 2006-15 — often in proper subject, however with years spent primarily in left or middle as effectively — Ethier mixed good on-base abilities and middle-of-the-lineup pop, meshing with a handful of homegrown gamers whereas serving to the staff win 5 NL West titles and add a Wild Card look in that span. Throughout that point, Ethier made two All-Star groups, received Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, grew to become a fan favourite, and earned a five-year, $85 million extension that sadly didn’t go as hoped. Certainly, the Dodgers typically appeared blind to his limitations, overexposing him to left-handed pitching (word his profession 73 wRC+ in opposition to southpaws, 139 in opposition to righties) and overestimating his defensive talents. Nonetheless, he spent his whole main league profession in a single place, making him considered one of two single-team candidates on this 12 months’s poll (Matt Cain is the opposite).

Andre Everett Ethier was born on April 10, 1982 in Phoenix, Arizona, considered one of seven youngsters of Byron Ethier and Priscilla Ethier. Byron, who’s of French Canadian and Cherokee descent, performed baseball at Yavapai Junior Faculty (profitable the NJCAA championship in 1977) and briefly performed skilled softball. Byron’s father, Pete Ethier (Pierre Leo Ethier), spent eight seasons taking part in professionally in the course of the 1949-58 span, and based on the Los Angeles Instances, each Pete’s father and grandfather performed professionally as effectively. Andre’s youthful brother Devon Ethier (b. 1990) spent three seasons within the Dodgers’ group as effectively after being drafted within the thirty second spherical in 2010.

“The Ethiers have performed numerous baseball over time,” Byron informed the Instances‘ Kevin Baxter in 2009.

Andre started taking part in T-ball at age 4 on a staff coached by his mom, with youthful brother Adam as a teammate as effectively. Byron and Priscilla had divorced by then, however “however each mother and father put apart their variations… with mother teaching her sons’ T-ball groups whereas dad shot the video, then switching jobs because the boys grew,” based on Baxter. Byron even realized to throw left-handed to be able to give lefty-swinging Andre sufficient publicity to same-side pitching.

At St. Mary’s Excessive Faculty in Phoenix, Ethier hit .527 throughout his senior 12 months and was named first staff all-region and second-team all-state. He enrolled at Arizona State College (a childhood dream) and performed briefly with the Solar Devils within the fall of 2000, however coaches suggested him that he didn’t have Division I expertise. He transferred to Chandler-Gilbert Group Faculty, the place he hit .468, earned all-conference and all-regional honors, and was drafted by the A’s within the thirty seventh spherical in 2001. He didn’t signal, however he returned to ASU and established that he was gifted sufficient to put Division I, making the First-Workforce All-Pac-10 in 2002 and ’03. The A’s drafted him once more within the second spherical in 2003, and he signed for a $58,000 bonus.

Ethier’s climb up the organizational ladder was comparatively fast, although interrupted by a stress fracture in his again in 2004, the one 12 months of his early profession that he spent solely at one degree. In 2005, he hit .319/.385/.497 at Double-A Midland, earned a late-season promotion to Triple-A Sacramento, and performed within the Arizona Fall League. The Dodgers, who had simply employed Ned Colletti to be their new common supervisor in mid-November after a 91-loss season, traded Perez and Bradley to Oakland in change for Ethier only a month later. Whereas Colletti would make sufficient groan-worthy strikes to change into the bane of a sure scribe’s existence, the GM’s first main transaction proved to be considered one of his greatest.

Ethier cracked the Baseball America High 100 Prospects record at no. 89 in 2006, then raked at a .349/.447/.500 clip at hitter-friendly Las Vegas earlier than the Dodgers known as him up. Fittingly, he made his debut in opposition to the Diamondbacks in Arizona on Might 2, 2006, going 1-for-4 with a double off Luis Vizcaino in addition to a stroll; the following day, he homered off Dowan Brazelton, the primary of 11 he’d hit that 12 months whereas batting .308/.365/.477 (113 OPS+) with 2.4 WAR. The 24-year-old rookie’s efficiency helped the Dodgers declare the NL Wild Card spot, although he received only one plate look within the Division Collection because the Dodgers had been swept.

After a meager displaying (105 OPS+, 1.1 WAR) in full-time responsibility in the course of the Dodgers’ 82-80 2007 season, Ethier broke out in ’08, batting .305/.375/.510 (132 OPS+) with 20 homers, although subpar protection restricted him to 2.2 WAR. Bursting with gifted, homegrown children — together with catcher Russell Martin, middle fielder Matt Kemp, righty Chad Billingsley and lefty Clayton Kershaw — the Dodgers eked out a division title with simply an 84-78 document, however steamrolled the Cubs within the Division Collection for his or her first postseason sequence win since 1988 earlier than falling to the Phillies within the NLCS. Ethier hit simply .188/.297/.219 with out an RBI in 37 postseason plate appearances.

In 2009, Ethier matched the earlier 12 months’s 132 OPS+ whereas hitting a career-high 31 homers and reaching 3.0 WAR. He gained a status for clutch efficiency through a significant league-high six walk-off hits, and tied Jimmie Foxx (1940) and Roy Sievers (1957) for the single-season document of walk-off homers with 4 (his profession complete of seven is tied for the franchise lead alongside Gil Hodges and Duke Snider, each of whom hit at the very least twice as many homers total). The Dodgers improved to 95 wins in repeating as NL West champions, and this time Ethier sparkled in October, hitting .355/.429/.806 with three homers because the staff swept the Cardinals earlier than once more shedding to the Phillies. Most notably, he went 3-for-5 with a double, triple, and homer in closing out St. Louis within the Division Collection, after which drew an eighth-inning bases loaded stroll off J.A. Happ to pressure residence the go-ahead run in Recreation 2 of the NLCS.

Capitalizing on scorching begins, Ethier earned All-Star honors in 2010 and ’11, however accidents took a number of the shine off his remaining numbers in each seasons. In 2010, he hit .392/.457/.744 via Might 14, and was main the league in each the Triple Crown and triple-slash stats when he fractured the pinky of his proper hand throughout batting observe. Although he missed simply 15 video games, he hit a mere .260/.335/.413 the remainder of the best way, however nonetheless completed with 23 homers and a 133 OPS+. In 2011, he reeled off a 30-game hitting streak — one wanting the franchise document set by Willie Davis in 1969 — that started within the season’s third recreation. He was batting .379/.442/.532 by the top of the streak, however his energy quickly eroded on account of issues in his proper knee. After a horrific stretch from the All-Star break into late August (.224/.316/.284 with one homer in 152 PA), Ethier publicly steered that the Dodgers had been pushing him to play via his knee woes, an allegation to which Don Mattingly and Colletti each took exception, with the latter intimating that he was utilizing it as cowl for his droop. In early September, he was shut down and underwent surgical procedure to take away free our bodies in his proper knee; he completed the 12 months with 11 homers and a 121 OPS+.

Between these late fades, and subpar protection (together with -14 DRS in 2010) and baserunning (-5 runs in 2011), Ethier totaled simply 4.0 WAR in these two All-Star seasons, the one ones of his profession. He did take residence a Gold Glove in 2011, when his defensive metrics had been at the very least on the upswing (1 DRS, 5.9 UZR, the latter up from -16.9 in 2010). That development roughly continued into 2012 and ’13, as he not solely maintained an identical degree of offensive manufacturing — hitting a mixed .278/.355/.443 (122 OPS+) — however supplied sufficient protection in middle subject rather than Kemp within the latter season. In June 2012, he and the Dodgers agreed upon a five-year, $85 million extension with an choice for a sixth 12 months (2018) — the primary huge participant expenditure by Guggenheim Baseball Administration, which on Might 1 had closed its buy of the Dodgers from Frank McCourt, who had steered the franchise out of business. Ethier totaled 6.4 WAR in 2012-13, his greatest back-to-back displaying.

All of which made the 32-year-old Ethier’s crash to earth in 2014 the extra jarring. Whereas he made 56 of his 79 begins in middle subject, his protection deteriorated, and he solely reached a complete of 130 video games by pinch-hitting 40 instances. In all, he managed simply 4 homers, a 97 OPS+ and 0 WAR. Happily for the Dodgers, he did have one final sturdy season in him, batting .294/.366/.486 (127 OPS+) with 14 homers in 445 PA in 2015, serving to the staff to its third consecutive NL West title in a run that may attain eight straight, outlasting his profession.

Certainly, Ethier didn’t have an entire lot of baseball left, not that he or the Dodgers knew it on the time. Throughout spring coaching in 2016, he fouled a pitch off his proper shin, fracturing his tibia. The Dodgers initially anticipated him to overlook 10 to 14 weeks, however he didn’t make his season debut till September 10, and made a complete of simply 26 PA. The Dodgers included him on their postseason roster however he was restricted to pinch-hitting responsibility; he went 2-for-6 with a stroll and a solo homer, hit off the Cubs’ Jon Lester within the NLCS opener.

The spring of 2017 introduced one other lengthy outage, as an MRI revealed Ethier was affected by a gentle herniated disc. He didn’t make his debut till rosters expanded on September 1, and made simply eight begins within the outfield and a complete of 38 PA. He did get to begin within the outfield a twice within the NLCS, most notably homering and singling off the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks in Recreation 3, and went 2-for-5 off the bench within the World Collection in opposition to the Astros. In Recreation 7, with the Dodgers trailing 5-0 after Yu Darvish was chased and Kershaw expended, Ethier supplied a flicker of hope by singling off Charlie Morton to usher in the Dodgers’ first run, however they couldn’t add one other. The Astros received, although their victory was in the end tarnished by subsequent revelations of their unlawful signal stealing.

Lots of these 2017 Dodgers had been nonetheless on the roster three years later when the staff lastly captured its first championship since 1988, however not Ethier. After the World Collection, the Dodgers declined his $17.5 million choice and he grew to become a free agent. Although he deliberate to play in 2018, he couldn’t discover a match. In July of that 12 months, he formally introduced his retirement. The Dodgers honored him in pregame festivities on August 3 of that 12 months. The staff’s subsequent success has bumped him to eighth on the record of postseason video games performed, however for most of the franchise’s followers, he’ll present fond reminders of an period when the nice instances returned to Chavez Ravine.

Celebrating Andre. #DreDay pic.twitter.com/nxGA2R1Iqs

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 4, 2018