JAWS and the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot: Ben Zobrist

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2025 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

Calling Ben Zobrist a utility player — or even a superutility player, given that he could play the outfield as well as the infield — is like calling Citizen Kane a movie about a sled. Unrecruited out of high school, and later unheralded as a prospect due to his age, he seemingly came out of nowhere to emerge as a star for the upstart Tampa Bay Rays, and in doing so removed the stigma of moving between positions on a regular basis. On the offensive side, “Zorilla” was a switch-hitter with elite plate discipline, mid-range power, and a minimal platoon split. As a defender, he provided average-or-better defense at second base and the outfield corners, and could play passably at a few other positions as well. Thanks to that combination, he helped change the way teams thought about roster construction, giving the more creative ones the flexibility to cobble together multiposition platoons.

Zobrist made only three All-Star teams in his 14-year career, but he helped his clubs reach the postseason eight times in an 11-year span (2008–18). From 2009–14, he ranked among the game’s most valuable players by WAR, and in the years adjacent to that stretch, he helped the Rays (2008), Royals (2015), and Cubs (2016) reach the World Series. He was the World Series MVP in the last of those seasons, when the Cubs won their first title in 108 years, and even got a breakfast cereal named after him, Zorilla Crunch! If not for his late start — he didn’t get more than 250 plate appearances in a season until age 28 — he might have had a real shot at making noise on this Hall of Fame ballot instead of going one-and-done.

Benjamin Thomas Zobrist was born on May 26, 1981 in Eureka, Illinois. His father Thomas was (and remains) the senior pastor at Liberty Bible Church, while his mother Cindi works alongside her husband as an administrative assistant. Like many players, the younger Zobrist got an early taste of baseball though backyard Wiffle ball games, but for this family, that variant of the game was a passion. Tom enjoyed the way a pitcher could make the ball move, and took an interest in switch-hitting. Ben, who rooted for the Cardinals and whose favorite player was shortstop Ozzie Smith, tried switch-hitting as well.

The family became so invested in Wiffle ball that they built a diamond in their backyard, with white spray-painted foul lines, bases secured in the ground, a mound with a pitching rubber, an outfield bounded by garden fencing, and 20-foot poles topped by bright lights. “All we had to do was run an extension cord from the house, and we had the only Wiffle ball field lit for night games in Illinois, perhaps the entire country,” wrote Ben in Double Play, the 2014 book he co-authored with his wife Julianna. Young Ben created a four-team league with five players per team, with t-shirt uniforms (bought with $10-per-player dues) and league rules. Sometimes the boys would play so late that Tom had to impose a midnight curfew.

When Ben got to high school, he was one of the smallest kids in his class, but he impressed the Eureka High School baseball coach, Bob Gold. “Ben was a little guy, maybe 5-foot-3, 110 pounds,” Gold told the Peoria Journal Star’s Kirk Wessler in 2016. “Even though he was a little twerp, I threw him in the outfield and he ran down every fly ball. He was a winner. I was building a program and looking for guys with grit… [H]e helped turn the program around.”

Zobrist finally hit a growth spurt during his junior year, growing to 6-foot-1, 150 pounds. He became the starting point guard on the school’s basketball team, and in baseball he pitched and played the field. It wasn’t until the summer after his junior year that he got serious about switch-hitting. After an American Legion game, with the help of teammate Jake Eigsti, he took a crack at batting from the left side. According to Wessler:

“I turned around left-handed, to pretend I was Ken Griffey, Jr… Jake pitched, and I smoked a few. He’s like, ‘Dude, you can hit left-handed!’ And I thought, well, maybe a little bit. That was the first time I ever tried it with a heavier bat.”

The next spring, Gold gave Zobrist the green light to try switch-hitting in games. Even so, he didn’t get any attention from scouts or college recruiters in high school. He planned to go to bible college and become a minister, and believed his baseball days were behind him, but Gold encouraged him to attend a tryout camp in Peoria. His father wouldn’t foot the $50 fee, so he used leftover birthday money from his grandparents to pay his way. He impressed a recruiter from Olivet Nazarene University, a nearby NAIA school, and accepted a scholarship offer contingent upon him pitching, which wasn’t his first choice. He did so as a freshman, and after the team had gone through five other shortstops that season, he played well enough at the spot that he became the starter there. He doubled as shortstop and closer during his sophomore season (2002), during which he earned all-conference, all-region, and NAIA Honorable Mention All-America honors. As a junior he switched to second base (while still closing) and became the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a first-team NAIA All-American.

Wanting to test himself in Division I, Zobrist transferred to Dallas Baptist University for his senior year, where he starred at shortstop, hitting .378, slugging .590, stealing 22 bases, and leading his school to the 2004 National Christian College Athletic Association championship. The Astros drafted him in the sixth round that year, and signed him for a $55,000 bonus. Only two 2004 draftees outproduced him in the majors: second-rounder Dustin Pedroia (51.9 WAR) and first-rounder Justin Verlander (80.5 WAR and counting).

Already 23 years old, Zobrist began his professional career in the Low-A New York-Penn League, where he hit .339/.438/.463 with four homers and 15 steals in 68 games for the Astros’ Tri-Cities affiliate. Baseball America rated him as the league’s no. 5 prospect, noting that if not for his age, he might have topped the list and added, “Managers raved about his hitting ability from both sides of the plate, his defense at shortstop, his speed, his work ethic and his 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame… his size might precipitate a move to third base. His excellent plate discipline and decent gap power should give him enough bat to play at the hot corner.”

Zobrist continued to post outstanding on-base percentages while splitting his 2005 and ’06 seasons between two levels. He hit a combined .314/.437/.443 with 84 walks and 18 steals in 110 games at two A-level stops in 2005, and .323/.428/.456 with 65 walks and 13 steals in 101 games at Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Durham in ’06. It was between that second pair of stints that he was traded; on July 12, the Astros sent him and pitcher Mitch Talbot to Tampa Bay in exchange for pending free agent Aubrey Huff, who supplied all of 0.2 WAR for Houston, or 35.1 less than Zobrist gave his new organization.

Less than three weeks after acquiring him, Tampa Bay called him up. He made his major league debut on August 1, 2006 against the Tigers, with Verlander striking him out looking in his first plate appearance; he and three relievers held Zobrist to an 0-for-4 night. Zobrist went hitless in his first 11 plate appearances before recording a single off Red Sox ace Curt Schilling on August 4. Two days later, he went 2-for-3 with a solo home run off Boston’s Jason Johnson and a two-run double off Manny Delcarmen. On September 2, he became part of the first (and still the only) 2-6-2 triple play in major league history. After J.P. Howell struck out the Mariners’ Raul Ibanez looking, catcher Dioner Navarro threw to Zobrist, who came across the bag and chased down Adrian Beltré, who tried to retreat to first after attempting to steal second. After tagging Beltré, Zobrist fired home to nail Jose Lopez trying to score.

Amid the highlights, Zobrist hit just .224/.260/.311 (48 OPS+) in 48 games for a squad that went 61-101 in Joe Maddon’s first year as Devil Rays manager. They improved to 66-96 in 2007, but Zobrist’s career went sideways. He broke camp with the team but struggled mightily, and was sent down to Durham in mid-May. While there, he battled severe anxiety issues that affected his sleeping and eating. Even while performing well enough to get recalled, he struggled. He played just 12 more games in the majors that year before suffering a season-ending oblique strain. In 105 plate appearances, he hit a cringeworthy .155/.184/.206 (4 OPS+).

In 2007, after moving to Nashville to further his wife’s singing career, Zobrist met Jamie Cevallos, a former Division 1A infielder who became a hitting guru and called himself “The Swing Mechanic.” Cevallos helped Zobrist rework his swing to generate much more power, “[I]n relatively simple terms, he changed the way Zobrist uses his front knee and how his bat gets through the zone,” wrote the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin. “Most of his improvement has been before the swing event occurs,” Cevallos told Topkin. “The end of the stride sets him up to use his bigger muscles in his swing.”

Zobrist was on his way to making the rechristened Rays out of spring training in 2008 when he fractured his left thumb. He finally debuted on May 15, but played in just seven games before being optioned, and even a two-game, two-homer stint in late June wasn’t enough to keep him around. After the Rays called him up again in early July to replace injured shortstop Jason Bartlett, who suffered a knee sprain, Zobrist extended his streak to three straight games with a home run by hitting a solo shot against the Royals’ Horacio Ramirez on July 5. He hit two more in that stint, including one on July 23, but was optioned to Durham again when Bartlett returned. Finally on August 5, Zobrist was called up for good. Splitting his time between left field, shortstop, and second base, he finished at .253/.339/.505 (120 OPS+) with 12 home runs in 62 games — as many as he’d hit at all levels in 2006 and ’07 combined.

The Rays, who hadn’t won more than 70 games in any of their first 10 seasons, won 97 games and the AL East title. Zobrist played sparingly in the postseason as the team beat the White Sox and Red Sox to advance to the World Series against the Phillies. His lone hit in 13 plate appearances that fall was a single off Cole Hamels in the World Series opener.

The next year, Zorilla broke out. Playing every position but pitcher and catcher at least once — mainly sharing right field duties before taking over at second base while Akinori Iwamura missed three months due to a meniscus tear — he made his first All-Star team and hit .297/.405/.543 (149 OPS+) with 27 homers, 17 steals, and an AL-high 8.6 WAR; his on-base percentage ranked fourth, his slugging percentage seventh. The Rays sank to 84 wins that year, but won the AL East in 2010 and claimed a Wild Card berth in ’11. While Zobrist gained security with a four-year, $18 million extension signed in April 2010 — one that had two additional club options — his power dissipated, and he missed time due to a lower back strain. But even while hitting .238/.346/.353 (96 OPS+) with just 10 homers, he went 24-for-27 in steals and was worth 4.6 WAR thanks to his 16 DRS, mostly while playing right field and second base but with some time at four other positions. He drove in the Rays’ only runs in Division Series Games 1 and 5, the first of which came on a solo homer off the Rangers’ Cliff Lee, but it wasn’t enough for Tampa Bay to advance.

Zobrist rebounded in 2011, hitting .269/.353/.469 with 20 home runs, 19 stolen bases, and 7.6 WAR (fifth in the league). He played a key role in helping the Rays eke out a playoff spot, homering four times in the their final seven games; they went went 6-1 during that stretch to overcome a 2.5-game deficit in the Wild Card race. On the final night of the season, with the Rays down 7-0 against the Yankees in the eighth inning, Zobrist followed up a Johnny Damon single with a double, helping to kindle a six-run rally in a game that Tampa Bay won in 12 innings, thus beating out Boston for a postseason berth. Though Zobrist collected hits in all four games of the Division Series rematch with the Rangers, the Rays were knocked out once again by the eventual AL champs.

In 2012, Zobrist moved back to shortstop for the final two months of the season and contributed average defense, impressive since he hadn’t played the position since 2009; his 47 games there were his most since ’06. He hit .270/.377/.471 (137 OPS+) with 20 home runs and 5.8 WAR (sixth in the league) for a team whose 90 wins wasn’t enough for a playoff spot.

Zobrist’s power waned over his final two seasons with the Rays; he hit a combined .273/.354/.398 (114 OPS+) with 22 homers, 21 steals, and a robust 9.6 WAR in 2013–14. He made his second All-Star team in 2013 while also helping the Rays claim a Wild Card berth, but his lone moment of significance in the postseason was a solo homer off Jon Lester that was followed by 12 unanswered runs from the Red Sox, who won the Division Series in four games. The Rays picked up Zobrist’s options for 2014 ($7 million) and ’15 ($7.5 million), but in January of the latter year, they traded him to the A’s along with Yunel Escobar in exchange for John Jaso, Boog Powell, Daniel Robertson, and cash.

That trade closed the most productive chapter of Zobrist’s career. During the 2009–14 span, he’d hit a combined .270/.364/.437 for a 123 OPS+ while averaging 17 homers, 16 steals, and 6.0 WAR; his 36.1 WAR over that stretch ranked third among all major league position players, behind only Robinson Canó (39.8) and Miguel Cabrera (38.9).

Zobrist didn’t stay long in Oakland, which after winning 88 games and claiming a Wild Card spot in 2014 was on its way down to a 68-94 season, having traded away Josh Donaldson and a few other key players. Zobrist played only 67 games for the A’s, missing a month due to surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. On July 28, about two months after returning to action, he was traded again, this time to the Royals — the reigning AL champions — in exchange for pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea. Filling in for the injured Alex Gordon in left field and Omar Infante at second base, he gave Kansas City’s lineup another tough out.

The Royals ran away with the AL Central, and for the first time, Zobrist put together a memorable postseason run while helping the Royals win it all. He hit a combined .303/.365/.515, and drove in the deciding run of Division Series Game 2 against the Astros with a seventh-inning single off Will Harris. In the ALCS against the Blue Jays, he collected three doubles in a losing cause in Game 3, and homered off R.A. Dickey in Game 4 and David Price in Game 6, both Royals wins. He went 3-for-6 with a walk in the World Series opener against the Mets; his 14th-inning single against Bartolo Colon sent Alcides Escobar to third, setting up Eric Hosmer’s walk-off sacrifice fly. In Game 4, after tying a postseason record with his eighth double, off Steven Matz, he walked and scored the tying run amid the decisive three-run eighth-inning rally. In the clinching Game 5, he was intentionally walked just before Lorenzo Cain broke the game open in the 12th inning as well.

A free agent for the first time, Zobrist landed a four-year, $56 million deal with the Cubs, a move that reunited him with Maddon. The contract was a bit of a shock given that he was entering his age-35 season and coming off his lowest WAR (2.4) since 2008, as his defense had slipped to well below average (-8 DRS). His glovework remained subpar (-6 DRS) within his usual mix of positions, but overall he performed well in his first year with Chicago. He was elected to start the All-Star Game at second base, and hit .272/.386/.446 (121 OPS+) with 18 home runs — his highest total since 2012 — and 3.4 WAR. The Cubs won 103 games and the NL Central, then beat the Giants in a four-game Division Series and the Dodgers in a six-game NLCS before going the distance to beat Cleveland in the World Series. Zobrist went just 6-for-36 during the first two series, but he took home World Series MVP honors by hitting .357/.419/.500. His last hit was his biggest, a one-out RBI double off Bryan Shaw in the 10th inning of Game 7, putting the Cubs ahead to stay.

Age seemed to catch up to Zobrist in 2017, when he missed time with inflammation in his left wrist and was beset by nagging neck and back issues as well. He crashed to a 79 OPS+ and 0.1 WAR, but bounced back with an exceptional 2018 campaign (.305/.378/.440, 117 OPS+, 3.5 WAR) at age 37. Unfortunately, his 2019 season was something of a nightmare. He started slowly, then took a leave of absence from the team in early May for what was initially described as personal reasons but was soon revealed to be marital issues. Both he and wife Julianna separately filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage, and the details of their split became public when he alleged in a 2021 lawsuit that she had been having an affair with their minister, whom he sued for defrauding his charitable foundation, seeking $6 million in damages. The lawsuit was eventually dropped, and the details of the divorce ruling were not made public.

Zobrist returned to the Cubs that September and performed better, albeit on a team that coughed up a Wild Card spot via a nine-game losing streak, a collapse that wound up costing Maddon his job. On September 29, in what turned out to be Zobrist’s final major league game, he moved to a new position: pitcher. With the Cubs behind 9-0, he threw a scoreless eighth inning, walking two but striking out Yadier Molina. That makes him one of four first-year candidates on this ballot whose only major league pitching appearances came in 2019, along with Ichiro Suzuki, Russell Martin (four appearances!), and Ian Kinsler, the last of whom pitched in his final major league game as well.

Over the winter of 2019–20, Zobrist revealed that he wasn’t planning on seeking another job, preferring instead to focus on parenting his children as he went through his divorce. He never played again, and while he’s short of numbers that will get him to Cooperstown, he’ll remain the yardstick by which multiposition players are measured. There are many who can play two or three positions competently, but there is only one Ben Zobrist.

86 Players referred to as "Ben Zobrist types" sorted by the year they earned that comparison. pic.twitter.com/r3idBYezUT

— Foolish Baseball (@FoolishBB) December 10, 2024