Player’s View: Who Is the Most Underrated Player in the Game?
Who is the most underrated player in the game? The question isn’t an easy one, and that’s especially true for the combatants themselves. Asked for their opinions, a handful of players I approached in recent weeks figuratively threw up their hands. Of the 12 who did come up with names, a majority had to chew on the question before providing an answer. Almost to a man, the initial response was some form of, “Man, that’s tough.”
I posed the question with one ground rule. Players were allowed to name a current teammate, but only if they also named someone from another team. I also offered leeway on “most.” If choosing just one was too challenging, they could simply give an example of a player they consider to be underrated.
The answers, all procured at Fenway Park, are as follows.
———
Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
“I’ll say Kyle Tucker. I think he’s one of the top-five best players in the league. He doesn’t get enough credit. For me, he’s an MVP type of player. I think he’s going to win multiple MVPs in his career.
“A guy on another team… give me a minute. I’ll say Javier Báez. People obviously give him some credit, but I think he is way better than what a lot of people think. What he brings to the team, to the league, to the fans… he’s fun to watch. He’s got power. He hits. He plays defense. He does everything. I would pay for a ticket to watch him.”
——
Jason Castro, Houston Astros
“This guy right here, Michael Brantley. If you look at the body of work he’s put together over the course of his career, how consistent a hitter he’s been… I know he’s been an All-Star five times, but he’s not a guy that really gets talked about all that much — not on the national level — for how good he’s been, and for how long.
“Another guy — an ex-teammate who is with the Colorado Rockies this year — is a guy I was very impressed with. I played against him for a number of years when he was in Anaheim, then I was a teammate with him for a year in Minnesota. That’s C.J. Cron. He’s a little bit under the radar. He’s had some injury things in the past, and he’s kind of bounced around, but he put together a great year last year. He’s off to another good start this year.”
——
Austin Davis, Boston Red Sox
“I’ll go with Bryan Reynolds. That’s the loophole [to not going with a current teammate]. He’s a former teammate. He can hit. He can field. The amount of diving plays, and the balls he gets to in the outfield, is crazy. He’s also got pop and doesn’t really chase outside the zone all that much. I mean, he was an All-Star last year, so he has gotten some publicity, but it’s different when you’re playing in Pittsburgh versus New York. Another thing is that he’s a steady-Eddie guy who just comes to the field every day. He’s not going to find every camera that’s out there.
“As far as current teammates, Bogey [Xander Bogaerts]. I knew his name, I knew he was an All-Star, but before I came here, I didn’t appreciate how dominant he was. That’s statistically, and there’s also how he is in the clubhouse, and the intangibles that go toward being a great player. He does all of it.”
——
David Fletcher, Los Angeles Angels
“I’ll go with José Ramírez. I mean, he’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen. He can play defense. He can run. Power. Doesn’t strike out. He’s the complete package. He gets some notoriety, but not enough in my opinion. The market might contribute to that a little bit.
“As far as our team, I’d say Jared Walsh, just because of what he’s done the last couple of years. He’s quietly put up some really good numbers.”
——
Kendall Graveman, Chicago White Sox
“Michael Brantley. I don’t know if you can say he’s underrated — everyone knows he’s a good player — but at the same time, he doesn’t get the notoriety because he’s probably not hitting 400-foot home runs. I think he’s the best ‘professional’ I’ve been around. And for somebody to hit as well as he does, for as long as he has — especially in today’s game — and not search for more power, just be really true to who he is… and there’s also the impact he makes on the outfielders on his team. That, to me, makes a player underrated. The intangibles — being a professional and helping teammates — are something you can’t put a number on. From being inside different clubhouses, that’s something I view as underrated.”
——
Dallas Keuchel, Chicago White Sox
“Thinking about our own team — where we’re at, and where we’ve been so far — I’d say Dylan Cease. On other teams… I’d say Mike Trout is underrated. For one, he’s coming off an injury. Two, he’s playing with a two-way player who everybody goo-goo and ga-gas about. I’ll say this about Clayton Kershaw as well: When you do it for so long, people kind of get bored. It just becomes ho-hum. Guys like that also don’t struggle enough for you to talk about them in that sense. They just keep doing their thing. It becomes, ‘We can’t just talk about Mike Trout every week of the season, so let’s talk about somebody else.’ Same for Kershaw.”
——
Aaron Loup, Los Angeles Angels
“Not that he flies under the radar — people know who he is — but I don’t think he gets the love that a lot of guys get. That’s [Xander] Bogaerts. The guy plays great defense. He hits .300, around .300, over .300, every year. To me, he’s a great ballplayer. I played against him in Toronto, and then when I was with Tampa, so I’ve gotten to see him a lot. Like I said, guys know him, but I don’t feel like he gets the respect he deserves — at least not as much as other, more high-profile shortstops around the league.
“A guy I’ll throw out there from my own team — which might be a crazy thing to say — is Mike Trout. Getting to see him play every day, with what he does, he might be underrated. It’s to the point that he’s been around so long, and you’ve seen it so much, that you kind of come to expect it every day.”
——
AJ Pollock, Chicago White Sox
“It’s hard to say any one guy, but Merrill Kelly is underrated. I’ve said it for a couple of years. He’s sneaky nasty. Everything is better than you think. He’s obviously off to a good start this year. He’s just a pitcher. There’s no one thing in his stuff that jumps out, like, ‘Oh, his fastball.’ It’s just that his stuff is better than you think, and he pitches with all of his pitches. He’s sneaky good. And there’s also the market. He’s in Arizona. They know who he is there — he’s been throwing the ball well for them for a couple years — but [nationally], he’s pretty unknown.”
——
Trevor Story, Boston Red Sox
“He’s kind of fresh in my mind, because we’re playing against [the Astros], but Michael Brantley. He’s so steady, and such a reliable offensive player. I’d say he’s one of the guys who is underrated. Another guy — and I know he gets a lot of love, but I don’t think he gets enough — is Trea Turner. He has a special skill set that you don’t really see. He does it all. There’s also Ryan McMahon. Being around him a lot, he’s one of those guys that plays really good defense, is very versatile, and hits for power. He plays both sides of the ball really well.”
——
Justin Verlander, Houston Astros
“l’ll go with Marcus Semien. He’s not off to a good start, but it’s been a month and a half. Based on what he’s done the last few years, he’s somebody that gets overlooked a lot. He’s been one of the best hitters in baseball. I also have to give him a ton of credit for all the work he put into becoming a good defender. I remember his early days, when he had a lot of errors. When we were [playing] in Oakland, I would see how hard he was working on his defense. He’d be out there grinding it at 2 PM on his defense, working to turn himself into a good defender. And if you look at his offensive numbers the last few years, he’s been elite. It seems like a lot of people just haven’t been paying attention. They should.”
——
Jared Walsh, Los Angeles Angels
“José Ramírez. Not amongst these guys — not the players — but in terms of the average fan, I’m not really sure if everybody knows José Ramírez. But bar none, he’s the most underrated player in baseball. I mean, he can hit a bullet. I’ve watched his video for the last four years, and it doesn’t matter if you throw 91 or 99 [mph] — he’s going to catch it out front, and he’s going to beat you pull-side in the air. His ability to be short and quick to the ball… and it seems like he walks a lot. I don’t think he strikes out a lot. He plays good defense. He drives in runs. Unbelievable. He’s both sides of the plate, but he’s probably my favorite lefty hitter to watch.”
——
Garrett Whitlock, Boston Red Sox
“I’d say it’s guys like Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernández who can play multiple positions and fill multiple roles. When it comes to underrated, I think that’s… if you play a regular position, people probably know who you are. I don’t know if people [in Boston] know who Chris Taylor is. I know that they know who Kiké is. I guess it depends on your definition of underrated. But guys who stick around the big leagues for 10-plus years because they can play different positions, and they go out there and grind, are usually underrated.”
David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.
Ty France
“What George Washington wrote to King Louis XVI after the American Revolution”
This might be the greatest comment I’ve ever seen on FG.
Austin Davis’ pick outs him as an obvious FanGraphs
trollreader!Glad to see Turner mentioned, as well as the multiple mentions for Jose Ramirez.
Also love Keuchel’s perspective on Trout and Kershaw being taken for granted. At a notch below their level, I’d offer up George Springer as also being underrated in the same kind of way.
turner is the quietest season leader in WAR ever.
Markakis did it once in bWAR.
oh my god… easily the biggest indictment of bWAR i’ve seen
’08 Markakis has wrc+ 138 6.1 fwar and 7.4 bwar. (22 DRS / 12 UZR)
He was legitimately elite and that DRS-UZR gap is merely the 16th largest that year.
’18 Nola with 9.7 bwar, 7.8 ra9-war, and 5.5 fwar is more recent and high-profile example.
Markakis had 7.4 bWAR, 6.1 fWAR that year. He finished 1st in bWAR, 5th in fWAR (but basically indistinguishable from 2nd place). Not really sure how that’s an indictment of bWAR.
Who are these players talking to where they think Jose Ramirez is underrated? He’s at least in the Top 5 for the AL MVP race right now. Even Michael Brantley is a 5x all-star, including several recently.
Kyle Tucker at least is young enough that people don’t really know his name, but he was all-MLB second team last year. Marcus Semien just got $175M.
I think I’m going to have to give it to Will Smith (the Dodgers’ catcher, not the pitcher or the rapper). He’s potentially the best catcher in the league and because most people don’t realize that nobody hits at catcher anymore, they don’t realize what an accomplishment that is.
Tommy Edman would be my second choice.
brantley is the epitome of “injury prone until you aren’t”. hes certainly underrated in that if he had been healthy in cleveland he’d be a borderline hall of famer. this is a bit too nitpicky, imho, fangraphs is nothing if not an exercise in making sure that everyone is appropriately rated, so obviously itll feel that way to readers. theres an entire world out there of people who never talk about any of these players
Don’t really think Brantley would have been a borderline HOFer without his injuries. He’s in his age 35 season, and only has 28.3 Fangraphs WAR and 34.0 Baseball Reference WAR. Without his injuries, he’d probably be around 35/40 WAR which is a long way off for someone his age.
How many WAR did Harold Baines have?
Lol, seeing all the references to Brantley in this article, I immediately thought of Baines. Great guy, actual “professional hitter”, should have a great case for the HOF based upon the transitive property.
They never talk about Jose Ramirez? What a sad, unfulfilled life.
I’ve found that people who don’t watch baseball usually know 2 players: Judge and Rizzo
{Hey sadtrombone – looks like this could be your all-time record for downvotes. Care for your first-ever translation here (not that I find anything near my normal requirements for dumbness and/or typos/grammar issues in what you posted here)? –
SerbUke}Oh no, I have definitely had more downvotes than this. Waaaay more. And one of those times you translated it. I can’t remember whether it was about Cole Hamels or Yu Darvish, but it was one of those too. Translate it if you want, but I’m fine either way.
I think these players were aiming the response at more casual fans… this content doesn’t really fly at Fangraphs where many of the readers know everyone on the 40 man rosters. I personally have found friends of mine very surprised when I told them that Jose Ramirez is a top 10 player or that Kyle Tucker is a superstar.
^^This. Of course FG readers know Jose Ramirez and Michael Brantley. But non-sports fans know Shaq and Tom Brady and Chuck Barkley and Peyton Manning. Michael Brantley would elicit blank stares and “Who? Isn’t he my insurance agent?”
Most casual fans are homers.
Either where they live or where they grew up.
They migh be somewhat aware that Ramirez and Brantley exist, but fully appreciating their full talent level? Not outside Cleveland or Houston, respectively. (Home team benchwarmers? Those they’ll know and love.)
I know many casual baseball fans who not only don’t know Jose Ramirez is top-5 position player in the game, but don’t even know who he is. Playing for a mostly bad Cleveland team and not having a conventional “star athlete” look will do that
Great idea for an article, David!
Nimmo is my guy, he’s supremely underrated by a portion of the fanbase and when healthy he’s an all star quality player that gets on base at rates that few players in the game do. Nimmo has improved at one part or another in his career as the years have gone on. I wish the Mets would extend him but it looks like he’ll head to free agency and if he plays 140 games this year will get a very nice deal.
tough to be recognized when only having one season of more than 400 PA’s.
Although i will say i’ve always been impressed by how judicious nimmo is with the strike zone, especially when you compare it to how non judicious he seems to be with what information he chooses to consume
cool to see interview questions that allow players to show that they are thoughtful and aware of the game in ways that get overlooked with questions like “what can you tell me about the resilience of this team”
I’m such a Jose Ramirez fan that the other day I wanted to go to Baseball-Reference but accidentally typed Baseball-Ramirez into the address bar. 🙂
I’m hoping it’s just GIFs of Manny Ramirez hijinks
good to see Ramirez on here a couple of times, I think the average baseball fan is aware of his name but I doubt many know just how good and consistent (outside of that weird 60 game stretch in 2019) he has been
I feel like Pollock and Whitlock were the only ones that understood the question- Trout, Kershaw, Ramirez underrated– what???
After reading the intro i was really hoping to read about some true under-the-radar guys i could keep an eye on. Was a little disappointed but I don’t blame David. These were the answers he got.
Merill Kelly seems to fit that “under the radar” bill.
The Dodgers definitely said “Merrill who?” last night
And as for Trout being underrated, here’s a guy who:
#1 Had a season one of the few unanimous MVPs in MLB history
#2 Had five seasons better than #1 above, and yet
#3 Is still less famous than Odell Beckham Jr., or for that matter, Bryce Harper.
I think that qualifies as underrated.
“Less famous than a guy who doesn’t play the same sport as him” is a bad criteria for determining if someone is underrated or not. Odell isn’t as famous as Lebron. Does that make Odell underrated?
Meh I think Odell is probably pretty damn close. Maybe not in the states, but worldwide.
The difference in fame worldwide between Lebron and Odell is much greater than the difference in fame between Odell and me, an Internet nobody.
You do know underrated doesn’t mean “good,” right? You can still be considered good at something but still be underrated.
Being good is almost a prerequisite for being underrated in fact. (Although I guess you could technically be average and everyone thinks you stink.)
Kiermaier. He had a 3.4 bWAR last year (2.6 fWAR) in under 400 PA, and all I read offseason was how much the Rays wanted to trade him (which clearly wasn’t true). He has a career 98 wRC+ without ever being platooned, and every time he’s mentioned, it’s about how bad of a hitter he is. 31 bWAR, 22 fWAR, and never made an all star game. He’s 32, and with another 10 bWAR, is a potential hall of famer.
I’ll agree that he’s underrated but he’s going to be a one-and-done on the HOF ballot. He’s not close.
In his last 645 PA (2020, 2021, 2022), he has been worth 6 bWAR. He’s 32 with 31.4 bWAR (only .6 less than Lindor and he’s played 60 fewer games). I don’t think “he’s not close” is accurate. Your saying he isn’t close is why he perfectly exemplifies “underrated”. He’s quite close compared to 95% of MLB players. Kevin Kiermaier likely retires with more than 40 bWAR, and will never make an all-star team. There will be dozens players in cooperstown with fewer bWAR than him, and you are right, he will fall of the ballot after 1 year. A player deserving of hall of fame consideration that was never chosen by the fans, managers, or players to an All-Star game makes him the most underrated player in baseball.
He’s not close. The fact that almost all MLB players are not close to the Hall if Fame doesn’t change the fact that Keirmair has almost no chance of being elected. But he has, as you’ve said, had a sneaky good career – and you make a good case about him being underrated.
Having .6 less WAR than Lindor is not a big deal for the HoF when he’s four years older – and presumably past his peak.
At some point in the future, HOF voters will begin to care about defense. And guys like Kiermaier, Simmons,Cain, Zobrist and Heyward will get consideration for their excellence and the way they have changed the game.
Because of the difference those players made for their teams, all of MLB outside of Philadelphia has realized that you cannot field a competitive team without excellent defenders all over the field. That’s why the gap between the best and worst defenses gets smaller each season.
You can absolutely field a competitive team without excellent defenders all over the field. Half of the teams in last season’s play-offs had bottom 3rd defenses (and the Brewers just missed it at 19th). You can also field a team WITH excellent defenders all over the field that loses 102 games, like the #1 defense-havin’ Rangers did.
Also a curious list of “game-changing” athletes, apart from Zobrist. Simmons, the best defensive shortstop I’ve ever seen and the epitome of the classic defense-first SS, hasn’t played for a team with a winning record since 2013. Meanwhile the the position has evolved into one occupied by some of the best all-around players in the game.
Speaking of great all-around players, Jason Heyward WAS one, with 5.5 WAR or more in 4 of his first 6 seasons. Since joining the Cubs on their curse-breaking ’16 season (to which he contributed 1 bWAR), he has put up 9.1 total bWAR. Heyward hasn’t changed the game. His arc is so specific you can’t even really use it as an object lesson. He was great then suddenly not only stopped being great, but also stopped being good, solid, decent, serviceable, or even average. His performance has been barely worth a bench spot, let alone the $140+ million the team has paid him for his services thus far.
Cain and Kiermaier are both solid, but neither signal a paradigm shift.They’re pretty much the only CF’s that play the way they do. Expectations for the position remain pretty much “should be the best defender in the outfield, with typical OF offensive production.”
Ben Zobrist? Now that guy was great.
Serious question. How did Heyward, Cain, and Simmons change the game?
How did Ozzie change the game? The players that followed Ozzie weren’t defensive wizards with limp dick bats. They were ARod, Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada, and Nomar.
I don’t understand the “Changed the game” argument. Outside of Ruth and Robinson, and perhaps Jose Canseco, there’s no singular player that changed the game.
I think we are talking passed one another. Saying Jeter is a gold glover is true. He won like 15 of them. Saying he’s deserving of a single gold glove is another thing entirely. When I said Kiermaier is a potential Hall of Famer, I didin’t mean I believe 75% of writers will vote for him. I don’t believe 5% will vote for him. I do believe he will have made a valid case for inclusion, even if ignorant voters dismiss him without consideration, the same way they dismissed recent superior CF like Edmonds, Lofton, and Jones. But at least those guys made an All-Star game. Perhaps I should have said “Kiermaier will be deserving of consideration to the Hall of Fame” rather than saying he’s a potential hall of famer. So long as we have the writers that we have making the determination, defensive players won’t get in. Maybe Yadi breaks that glass ceiling.
Something else I found while looking over Kiermaier’s stats…
We all agree that Byron Buxton is a superstar if he can stay on the field, right?
Buxton’s career bWAR/162 is 5.8.
Kiermaier’s is 5.8 as well.
Kiermaier has already passed 4 HOF CF in career bWAR. Cool Papa Bell will be passed this season, and Hack Wilson is 7 wins away. How many more will he pass before he gets left off of all ballots in his lone year of eligibility?
And I agree with you…he won’t get any votes. That’s what makes him underrated. Numbers don’t underrate him. Just people.
it’s ok we’ll always have his absolutely insane defensive highlight reel to watch
Kiermaier has been worth 10.8 bWAR (along with an 87 wRC+) since the start of the ’18 season. He’s 32 with 31.4 bWAR, roughly 2/3rds of which came before his 28th birthday. 40 bWAR as a likelihood seems a stretch. I don’t follow what the Buxton bWAR/162 comparison is supposed to illustrate. Buxton’s career to this point also isn’t anywhere close to meriting HOF consideration.
There are currently 6 Centerfielders in the Hall of Fame with less than 40 bWAR:
-Ned Hanlon, who was inducted as a manager
-Negro League stars Willard Brown, Cristobal Torriente, and Cool Papa Bell (all 3 of whom were better players than their WAR, which incomplete data makes a wonky metric to measure Negro League player performance).
-Veterans Committee Inductees Hack Wilson and Lloyd Waner, who retired in 1934 and 1945, respectively.
There are currently 20 Hall of Fame Centerfielders with more bWAR than Kiermaier, the closest player born after 1901 being Kirby Puckett with 51.2 bWAR. There are also 62 Centerfielders not in the Hall of Fame but with more bWAR than Kiermaier. If he manages to get to 40 bWAR even, those numbers shift to 19 HOF centerfielders, and 55 not in the HOF, having more bWAR than him.
I get it. You like him. He’s was a fantastic/is currently a very good, defensive Centerfielder with speed on the basepaths, who doesn’t hit for power or average but strikes out more than you’d think, doesn’t get on base all that well and doesn’t score a lot of runs. Pretty darn good ballplayer for a few seasons. Not seeing a compelling HOF case.
Kiermaier is the Paul Blair of this generation. That’s about as singular a compliment as any non-HOF player could ever get.
And if someone ever acts on Rob Neyer’s idea for the “Hall of Very Noteworthy” (or something like that), you can have a whole wing of his defensive highlights.
Blair is a good comp. I’ll bet most people here didn’t realize Kiermaier has a career 98 wRC+. I’m betting most people thought he was a lot closer to Pillar than Lofton.
I wish I’d have never mentioned Kiermaier being a “potential Hall of Famer”, because all these folks confuse “potential” with “probable”. Kiermaier is not a Hall of Famer. Is he potentially? Sure. He’s 32 with 32 bWAR. 6 bWAR in his last 600 PA. Is he a likely HOF? No, of course not.
The argument wasn’t “Kiermaier is a hall of famer”. The observation was Kiermaier is the most underrated, because… Being a potential HOF was only an observation.
I’m not arguing he’s a hall of famer. I’m arguing he is the most underrated of his generation. I didn’t say Buxton was a Hall of Famer. I said “we can all agree he’s a superstar if he stays healthy”, then showed on a gmaes played basis, he and Kiermaier have provided the same value (Kiermaier in his prime was superior, for what it’sworth). The fact that we are debating if Kiermaier will reach top 50 all time bWAR CF status in the next few years or whether he will just miss being a top 50 CF ever, while Hall of Fame voters can’t even spell his name is evidence of him being underrated. I heard Jim Leyland call him “Kierweiser” once, and that was after he had a 7 win season.
In addition, most of those CF you reference moved off CF. Andruw, Beltran, McCutchen, Beltran didn’t even play a single game in CF for the last 9 years of his career. It’s like considering Dale Murphy and Craig Biggio as catchers. If we are comparing CF, then we need to compare CF to actual CF, not what McCutcheon/Andruw/Beltran/Griffey etc did when they were no longer capable of playing the position. If you exclusively look at value provided while playing the position, and not DHing or playing LF, Kiermaier moves into the top 40 all time.
The argument isn’t whether Kiermaier is a Hall of Famer or not. The argument is whether Kiermaier is the most underrated player. I believe he is. He will get Hall of Fame votes without ever receiving an All Star game invite. That’s the most underrated player of the last 20 years.
When you’re unquestionably the best of your generation at something as generic as defense (while being decent at everything else) I think that’s at least worthy of a discussion of HOF.
Kiermaier has absolutely been one of my top favorite players!!!
He has been the definitive best CF in the game for basically his entire career. He will catch anything and everything. Has an absolute cannon of an arm. Deadly fast and aggressive on the bases. And good enough bat to not be a liability. Plays with passion. Fun and entertaining.
He can rob a home run, gun a guy down at the plate. And legitimate steal home or hit an inside the park homer. All in the same game, and no one would be shocked, and he’d still be secondary to some article about Luis Robert or Mike Trout.
I think he’s definitely at least the guy most deserving of an All-Star who’s never been an all-star. He’s underrated on the Rays – the MLB’s all-under-rated team.
Even with all your effusive praise, I think even you underrated his bat. His bat isn’t “good enough not to be a liability”. He’s got a career 98 wRC+. He has a league average bat. That’s not close to a liability. His bat is pretty close to Adam Jones’ career bat, and Andruw Jones with the glove.
I think people underrate how good a league average bat is, especially one that has never been platooned.
The Rays are basically the MLB All-Underrated team.
And Kiermaier is underrated on the Rays.
Insert small market player here………………..
says the guy with the facist user name.
Announcement: After months of postponement, District 11 cocaine orgies back on now that you know who is gone!
Were just going to call everything slightly right of far left fascist now eh. Free to Choose – the epitome of fascism hahaha.
Whats with all the parotty account’s?
You mean “parody”. Dumbass.
I have missed you guys.
Willy Adames
What’s nuts to me is that the Rays traded Willy Adames for 2 relievers. Adames turned into an MVP candidate. The ultimate Rays thing, is that they still might have won the trade.
I can’t imagine how big a player can be if Jose Ramirez is underrated! He is regarded as a top 3/top 2 third basemen and will finish top 5/top3 in the MVP race.
Agreed, but if you ask your average fan, who knows Trout, Judge, Scherzer, Kershaw, Franco, and other big names, Jose Ramirez might not be quite so well known.
They might thinkyou’re talking aboht Manny.
“What? He’still playing?”
Ill go with Ji-man Choi. Defense at 1B underrated, bat underrated. He’ll give you a solid 120 wRC+ when he’s healthy.
He probably only gets love from the Jays fans because he’s the extra guy on the team, but Santiago Espinal could be someone you hear about for a long time.
I’d bet any money Cistulli was behind the Jays snagging Espinal from the Red Sox system.
The ones I was most surprised to see on the the first ZiPS ROS page were Tommy Edman, Trevor Rogers and AJ Minter
Brandon Lowe
I doubt many here even realize that since the beginning of the 2020 season he’s top 15 in fWAR and wRC+ and top 10 in HR and ISO. His bat has been basically identical to Shohei’s during this time.
If he misses the lists of underrated players for a couple more years, he’ll be where Rendon was 4-5 years ago. Underratedly underrated.
He got ROY votes in one season, made an all-star game the next season, and got MVP votes the season after that. I’m not sure “underrated” players have that many awards from peers, coaches, and writers.
That many? He has no awards. Votes =/= awards.
Then why does baseball reference list MVP vote totals under “awards”?Votes definitely equal awards. I was finalist for realtor of the year, and you better believe my website says “3 time finalist”.
On Lowe’s BR page, listed under awards, in 2019 he was and All-Star and finished 3rd in ROY voting. In 2020, he finished 8th in MVP voting. In 2021 , he finished 10th in MVP voting. When you are consistently being recognized for your abilities, it’s really hard to consider you underrated.
If he finished 3rd in voting instead of 8th, is he now overrated? Hell of a line in the sand.
“Then why does baseball reference list MVP vote totals under “awards”? Votes definitely equal awards.”
Because “awards” is a useful, elegant shorthand for “awards and votes therefor” and any user of the website would know you can simply click “awards” to get more expanded voting information.
Again, self-evidently ‘votes’ =/= ‘awards’, unless there were 20 AL MVPs last year (as that’s how many players received votes). And in which case Stan Musial is a 17-time MVP!
Okay Ricky Bobby. “If you ain’t first, you’re last”.
But why does baseball reference include vote totals, if they are irrelevant and only the winner matters? The BBWA publishes the finalists a month before they announce the winner. They do this so the players can receive the recognition they deserve. Lowe has been recognized 3 years in a row. The All Star game has expanded rosters for a reason, because making the game is the award, not just winning the game MVP. The Oscars announces all the nominees for a reason. Schools have salutatorians for a reason. Hell, teams hang banners for losing in the first round of the playoffs.
I pity those who aren’t honored to be nominated, and who fail the acknowledge someone who has been recognized by their peers. If being a finalist wasn’t an award, they wouldn’t publish the results. ESPN has made TV shows about who deserves to be in the top 25 football rankings. It must suck to only recognize the top team’s accomplishment. I think you are alone in this.
There were 906 players on opening day rosters in 2020. If Lowe finshed 2nd in MVP voting, rather than 8th, is he overrated? But 8th makes him underrated? That’s ridiculous.
In 2012 Mike Trout finished 2nd in MVP voting after a 10.5 bWAR season; Miguel Cabrera finished 1st at 7.1 bWAR. Trout was underrated that season despite having the second most voting points.
I don’t think he was underrated. Under awarded perhaps, but virtually everyone agreed he was one of the two best players in a league of over 1000 players. I remember the argument being “Cabrera had the first triple crown in X years, even though Mike Trout was probably the better player”.
That was fun.
Had no idea Jared Walsh watched baseball porn, er, Jose Ramirez video.
It’s old news now, but Yusmeiro Petit literally broke the all-time consecutive perfect innings pitched record, and couldn’t even get promoted from mop-up guy in the bullpen.
He has followed up that streak with 7 seasons where no reliever has pitched so many innings and given up so few runs. He couldn’t even find a team to start this season with. When you are that much better than almost everyone else for nearly your entire career and you can barely find a steady job season after season, you are underrated.
Plus, I bet a lot of fans would say he’s not even as good as the highly underrated Clayton Kershaw.
He’s a perfect example of a player not everybody knows, but earned his MLB pension in spades 🙂
Word in the Boston press was that hours after Loup named Xander for your story, he gave up a Xander dinger.
Love pieces like this
There are underrated players and underrated stars. To me, underrated stars include Jose Ramirez, Yordan Alvarez, and Aaron Nola. There are more underrated players than could be counted.
I’ll say the guy who projects to be a 5.6 WAR player over a full season.
The answer is clearly Danny Jansen
On what planet is Jose Ramirez underrated? He gets mentioned constantly, which is befitting on a player with his talent. If anything he’s marginally overrated.
Jorge Polanco is secretly a good baseball player. Especially at 2nd base.
Great call on Kyle Tucker by Altuve. I honestly had no idea how good Tucker has been, and I’m here all the time. Not such a great call on Baez, though, who I think is actually pretty overrated by both players and casual fans.