Measuring Jeff Kent’s Significant Impact on Giants En Route to Hall of Fame

Jeff Kent’s wait to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame is over as he was elected to the Class of 2026 on Sunday night.

Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants were not Jeff Kent’s first Major League team. In fact, the Giants were his fourth team. But the franchise was clearly his most important stop.

Kent slugged in an era defined by players that used performance-enhancing drugs. He played a position that wasn’t traditionally associated with power. He was never named in the era’s defining report on PEDs, the Mitchell Report. His 377 home runs is one of the best total all-time for primary second basemen.  

His credentials were finally enough to get him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the only player of the eight considered to be elected on the contemporary era ballot, a panel filled with former players, baseball executives and historians. His Giants teammate, Barry Bonds, who overshadowed Kent’s career, didn’t get the votes to get in. He was connected to the BALCO scandal.

Kent was already a solid player when he arrived in San Francisco for his age 29 season in 1997. For the next six seasons, he defined power at second base and slugged at Hall of Fame level that was finally recognized.

Jeff Kent’s Giants Career

Congrats to Jeff Kent on being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the Contemporary Era Ballot! pic.twitter.com/1MkFNyhn0R

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) December 8, 2025

Kent arrived after spending 1996 with the New York Mets and the Cleveland Indians. His presence at second base and in the lineup paid off immediately. For his six years in San Francisco, he had a bWAR of 31.6 — he finished with a 53.5 bWAR for his career. He slashed .297/.368/.535 with 175 home runs and 689 RBI. He was a right-handed hitter in a ballpark that doesn’t always treat right-handed hitters well.

But he also hit more than a third of his career doubles in San Francisco — 247 out of 560 — as he used the gaps at Oracle Park to his advantage.

Every season in the Bay Area ended in recognition. He was a three-time All-Star, a three-time National League Silver Slugger at his position and the 2000 National League MVP. That season he slashed .334/.424/.596 with 33 home runs and 125 RBI. He and Bonds fueled the Giants run to the 2002 World Series, which ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

That also ended Kent’s time with the Giants. He was in Houston next season. But he remained an RBI machine for the next few seasons. Even at age 40 with the Giants’ hated rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the power diminished — he only hit 12 home runs — but he still batted .280.

Kent’s greatness was lost in the era he played in, overshadowed by those that used PEDs to fuel their success. The Baseball Writers Association of American chose not to elect him. The panel did, recognizing that at his position he is among the best all-time. His 1,518 RBI is third among second basemen and his .500 slugging percentage is second.

He should have been elected on the primary ballot. It took contemporaries and former players to recognize what Giants fans already knew.