Which active players do you wish could’ve stayed 100% healthy to see what they could have accomplished?
There are 5 active players I wish could’ve stayed 100% healthy for their entire career, or close to 100%, just to see what they could’ve done in a full MLB career with very few interruptions. Mike Trout, Giancarlo Stanton, Byron Buxton, Aaron Judge, and Harrison Bader.
I know Judge has stayed healthy for most of his career so far but he still has had 3 seasons shortened by injuries. It makes me wonder how many more homers he could’ve had and how much higher his career WAR would be. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he may have missed out on about 50 more homers. Despite this, he still has a 51.4 fWAR so far.
Trout has been a part time employee for like 5 years now and still has an 85.7 fWAR. If he stayed healthy that whole time, I think he would’ve been sitting at around 470+ homers, 2,000+ hits, and over 100 fWAR entering 2025.
Buxton has played 100+ games in only 2 out of 10 seasons and still has a 22.2 fWAR. Every time he’s healthy and tearing it up, it makes me wonder what if he was more durable?
Stanton at least gets to 100+ games but he doesn’t do it without 1-2 IL stints per year. Each IL stint makes him reset his offense. I think he’s the most obvious one that could’ve been at 500+ homers by now if he stayed healthy.
Harrison Bader if anything, is just really fun to watch. I don’t think he would’ve been HOF bound. He’s just fun to watch. I’d watch just for his defense alone.