Once again, Jeff Kent gained in the Hall of Fame vote, and once again, he is far short of the trajectory he needs to make it to the Hall of Fame. Going from his now 27.5% to induction in two years is entirely unprecedented.

The shame in that is Kent had what should have amounted to a Hall of Fame career.

At the moment, Kent is the all-time home run leader at second base. That makes him the only non-steroid tainted Hall of Fame eligible home run leader at his position not in the Hall of Fame.

It’s more than that. Kent and Todd Helton are the only two players who are in the top five in doubles at their position who are not in the Hall of Fame. In terms of Helton, he’s received a higher percent of the vote and has more years remaining on the ballot.

Looking at RBI, and again putting steroids aside, he’s the only player in the top three at his position not in the Hall of Fame. In fact, he’s the only one in the top ten at his position not inducted.

When you dig deeper, every single non-first baseman (who didn’t get implicated by steroids) with at least 1500 RBI has been inducted. Everyone except Kent.

Kent has the second best SLG among second baseman all-time. Removing steroids from the equation, and every player who is eligible and in the top two are in the Hall of Fame.

Kent has a 123 wRC+. All of the Hall of Fame eligible second basemen ranked higher are in the Hall of Fame. Looking at the top 13, only Kent and Lou Whitaker (a continued baffling oversight) are not in the Hall.

When you look at players with at least 9,000 PA, Kent and his 123 wRC+ makes him the 74th best hitter of all-time. Of that list, there are only 10 middle infielders. Kent is the only eligible player who has not been inducted.

He’s also the only second baseman in MLB history to win an MVP and not get inducted into the Hall of Fame. Previous second basemen to do both include Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan, and Rogers Hornsby.

Somehow, Kent built a career where he had vaunted himself amongst those names in the record books. Arguably, he established himself as the best slugger at the position. Looking at the homers, he did something no one at the position has ever done.

In Major League history, Kent was better at something than anyone else has since the first ever Game was played in 1845. Being the absolute best at something which has been played for 176 years is just astonishing.

In the end, this should make Kent a worthy Hall of Famer. So far, it hasn’t equated to that, and based on trends, he won’t be. At least, he won’t until the Veteran’s Committee convenes to weigh his case. That’s a shame too because he is worthy.