Kyle Seager's 'Hall of Pretty Good' nod is a bittersweet honor for Mariners legend

It's often said that the internet -- particularly social media -- can be an extremely negative place to spend your time, so any positivity you can find should be embraced. Step forward the MLB Hall of Pretty Good, which stands out as a figurative bastion of good vibes amongst all the pessimism which resides online. And Mariners fans in particular would be wise to check it out this week, because Kyle Seager has been nominated to become the latest inductee.

The MLB Hall of Pretty Good is the brainchild of Bryce Whitlow, a 24-year-old special education teacher who started the account as a result of COVID. As per Michael Clair of MLB.com, Whitlow had been falling out of love with baseball, but starting up the MLB Hall of Pretty Good helped him renew his passion for the game. Now, it's at a point where players pay attention and the likes of Kevin Pillar and Jonathan Lucroy discuss it on podcasts.

Pillar and Lucroy are both already in the MLB Hall of Pretty Good, which brings us back to Seager. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest Mariners of all time, sitting in the top five in a whole host of categories. This includes ranking fifth with a 37.0 bWAR, sitting behind only Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki and Alex Rodriguez.

Obviously Seager isn't going to be joining Griffey, Martinez or Suzuki in the Baseball Hall of Fame. (And Rodriguez would have likely also already been there if he hadn't made certain choices.) However, the M's best ever third baseman is more than deserving of making it into the MLB Hall of Pretty Good. The question is, will he actually be voted in on Wednesday?

Kyle Seager deserved better but still stood out as a star when he was at his peak

For context, there are several rules in place to be eligible to be nominated, including needing to be retired or inactive for three seasons. In addition, players can't have a bWAR higher than 38.6 and can't have won an MVP Award or a Cy Young. As Whitlow puts it, a player can't be too good.

The comment by Whitlow hits hard, because as much as Seager didn't do enough during his career to become a Hall of Famer, we would contend he was better than pretty good. In fact, at his peak between 2014-16 he was a top five player in the majors and actually had the third-highest bWAR during this time period at 18.5, behind only Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson. Over the three seasons in question he twice received AL MVP votes, earned his one All-Star selection and had a career-high 6.9 bWAR in 2016.

It probably doesn't help that Seager never played in the postseason during his 11 years in the majors with the Mariners. However, as much as we do think he proved to be better than pretty good, we still embrace the idea of him getting into Whitlow's Hall of Fame equivalent. And helping his chances of becoming the latest inductee, is that you only need 65 percent of the votes, as opposed to the 75 percent required to get into Cooperstown.

Seager isn't on the best of terms with the Mariners organization these days, no matter his reasoning for not being in Seattle for the 50th anniversary celebration of the top 50 players in franchise history. However, his love and appreciation for the fans has never diminished, with it being thoroughly reciprocated. Here's hoping enough people show their appreciation for the 38-year-old on Wednesday and give him reason to smile.

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