The unveiling of a statue of Mark Buehrle Saturday should just be a preview of when they unveil his plaque in Cooperstown, which given the Veterans Committee rules unfortunately won’t be until at least 2031.
Not that he’s shoo-in by the numbers. Mark’s 59.0 bWAR is slightly below the Hall’s average for pitchers (66.0), but well better than many already enshrined, even some who didn’t get the automatic Yankee free pass. That includes two close comparables, fellow defensive wizards Jim Kaat (45) and Jack Morris (44).
Speaking of defense, a Sabermetrics writer did incredibly thorough research into pitcher defense and ranked Buehrle 51st all-time.