Ranking the 10 greatest infielders in Blue Jays history

1. Carlos Delgado

In my opinion, the best infielder to ever play for the Blue Jays is Carlos Delgado. It’s unfortunate that he was dropped from the Hall of Fame ballot in his first year of eligibility, but he really had an outstanding career, most of which came with the Blue Jays.

In his 12 years with the club, Delgado posted a .282/.392/.556 slash line with 336 home runs and 1,058 RBI. From 1996-2004 he posted a 142 WRC+ which was eighth in the American League during that span. He had established himself as one of the elite hitters in the game.

Delgado is without a doubt the best hitter in Jays history. He’s the franchise’s leader in home runs, RBI, runs, doubles, and OPS. He might not have been the best player in the sport at any given moment, but he consistently was hitting 30+ home runs and driving in 100+ runs. He was one of the best power hitters in the game for sure.

The Blue Jays have employed a bunch of really solid infielders in their 45-year history. These are the 10 best to play for the franchise.

Delgado’s best season came in 2000. He slashed .344/.370/1.134 with 41 home runs and 137 RBI. He was an All-Star for the first time, won the Silver Slugger Award, and finished fourth in the MVP balloting. He set the single-season Jays records in slugging, OPS, doubles, total bases, and extra-base hits. It was one of the best seasons in Blue Jays history. His 179 WRC+ was third in the American League, only four points behind the leader Jason Giambi.

He was not a very good defender but the fact that he put up a 7.3 bWAR in 2000 shows just how good he was at the plate. He had an 8.1 oWAR which was third in the American League.

Delgado has his rightful spot on the Level of Excellence as well and his rightful spot as number one on this list.