Stark’s Baseball Hall of Fame tiers: Which active players are on track for

Is it me, or has it felt like Milestone Month in baseball’s never-ending history class?

There was Freddie Freeman’s 300th homer … launched even as his 2,000th career hit was roaring right at us.

There was Nolan Arenado’s 1,000th career RBI … compiled in a little over 10 full seasons.

There was Gerrit Cole’s 2,000th strikeout … piled up in 150 fewer innings than Nolan Ryan.

There was Kenley Jansen’s 400th save … racked up just days ahead of Craig Kimbrel (who’s currently sitting at 399).

Those are big round numbers, compiled by big-name players. But they’re more than mere moments for the trophy case. They’re also moments that make us think.

Are all of those players heading for a Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend to call their own? What a fun question, right? So I dug into that topic last Friday on MLB Network.

Which active players are going to wind up in the Hall of Fame? I tried my best to answer that. The reactions have been streaming in ever since. Thanks for all your help!

But on live TV, there’s never enough time to explain all the thinking that goes into these lists. So this is my chance to explain it in enough depth that once America is finished reading, I’m confident there will be unanimous agreement, on everyone and everything, because that’s always how this works. Or not.

I divided this list into tiers. So here’s the list. Then we’ll dig in on how all these names got there.

IN RIGHT NOW

Mike Trout
Justin Verlander
Clayton Kershaw
Max Scherzer
Miguel Cabrera
Zack Greinke
Joey Votto

IN THE RED ZONE

Freddie Freeman
Paul Goldschmidt
Bryce Harper
Nolan Arenado
Mookie Betts
Manny Machado

ON A PATH

Shohei Ohtani
Aaron Judge
Jose Altuve
Gerrit Cole
Juan Soto
Ronald Acuña Jr.

I WISH THERE WAS A PATH

Jacob deGrom
Adam Wainwright

GET BACK TO ME IN FIVE YEARS

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Wander Franco

USED TO BE IN THE RED ZONE

Craig Kimbrel
Kenley Jansen
Andrew McCutchen
Chris Sale
Evan Longoria

CASE NOT CLOSED

José Ramírez
J.T. Realmuto
Carlos Correa

Now let’s sink our teeth into how these names wound up on those lists.

The ‘In Right Now’ Club

VERLANDER, KERSHAW, SCHERZER — Anybody see a need to spend even 30 seconds “debating” these guys? They’re all three-time Cy Young Award winners. And every winner of at least three Cys who ever lived has a plaque in Cooperstown … except for Roger Clemens … because, well, you know.

MIGGY — I think we can spend even less time on this one. Miguel Cabrera is one of the 10 greatest right-handed hitters ever — and no right-handed hitter in the 500-Homer/3,000-Hit Club has a slash line as good as this guy (.307/.383/.521). Got it? OK, next!

TROUT — He’s only 31, but this case is already closed. Trout whooshed past Joe DiMaggio in career homers this week (to 362). He just passed Ken Griffey Jr. in career Wins Above Replacement (to 83.9, according to Baseball Reference). He has already won more MVP awards (three) than…