Riley

🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 Erick Aybar received 69% of over 30,300 votes and is now officially the 85th member of the Hall of Pretty Good! Aybar was born in January of 1984 in the Dominican Republic. His Hall of Pretty Good journey would begin in 2002 when the Angels signed him as an amateur free agent. Aybar’s performance at the Minor League level was the baseball equivalent of Ryan Gosling in La La Land, and he’d eventually see himself promoted to the big league club, making his MLB debut on May 16th, 2006 against the Toronto Blue Jays. His first MLB hit came against registered HoPG voter Brett Tombo a few days later on the 20th. Aybar would steadily see his playing time increase over the course of the next few seasons, and he took over the full-time gig at shortstop for the Angels in 2009, playing in 137 games while posting a bWAR of 3.4 with a 104 OPS+. Aybar would remain a steady presence for the Angels, particularly shining alongside his double play partner Howie Kendrick. Spending parts of 10 seasons in Anaheim, Aybar won a Gold Glove, made an All Star team, and totaled 1,223 hits for the Halos during his tenure with the squad. Aybar was the gift that kept giving for the Angels as well, helping them acquire future Hall of Pretty Gooder Andrelton Simmons from the Braves in November of 2015. Aybar would bounce around between several teams before leaving MLB behind after being released by the Twins in the spring of 2018. For many, Aybar represents a much more enjoyable time for Angels fans, as the team has largely failed to be successful after his departure. The Hall of Fame might have Derek Jeter, but the HoPG will gladly take Erick “pretty good” Aybar.