As this year begins, I believe there are three Hall of Fame locks playing for the New York teams: Juan Soto for the Mets, and Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt for the Yankees.
Technically, Soto would not be eligible if his career ended today, since this is his ninth season and 10 are needed to qualify for the ballot. But we will assume that: 1) he is going to keep playing for a while; and 2) that based on his standing among the greatest players ever through their age-26 seasons, that unless he begins to hit like, say, Doug Flynn for the next decade, he is going to get to Cooperstown.
Judge reached Year 10 last season and won his third AL MVP, had his fourth season of 52 or more homers and third season of a 210 OPS-plus or better. He can use more production in the postseason and a ring or two to climb further up the Yankees’ all-time hierarchy, but he is a cinch for the Hall of Fame.
Goldschmidt can be seen as iffier. But the voting bloc en masse has become more lenient over the years, and I think Joey Votto is going to breeze in with this electorate when he becomes eligible on the 2029 ballot. Goldschmidt’s career stacks up well against Votto and also the other preeminent first baseman of their cohort, Freddie Freeman.
