Most Overrated/Underrated MLB Players

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Recently Sports Illustrated ran a poll regarding the most overrated and underrated players in baseball. Of course when Jeter was chosen as the most overrated player, there was much outrage from sportswriters, fans, and all other forms of Jeter worshipers. It probably illustrated the point perfectly. The big problem with running a poll like this is that if everyone thinks a player is over or underrated, is he really? Kerry Wood can not be overrated unless someone thinks he is good, and I have not seen that person lately. The problem with the underrated list is that they are by and large players we already know. Michael Young went to the All Star game the last two seasons and he's the reigning A.L. batting champion. If anything, he is overrated.

 

Bill James in his abstract created a list of what makes a player over or underrated. Batting average tends to be overrated while secondary skills are underrated. Players who do one thing well are rated higher than those who contribute across the board. RBI guys are overrated while leadoff hitters are underrated. Big market players, players on championship teams, etc. Players whose careers are split in some way tend to get less credit than a player who stays on one team.

 

Rather than get bogged down, here's my personal overrated and underrated lists. Now keep in mind that just because a player is overrated does not mean he is not good.

 

Overrated

Derek Jeter - Great, professional hitter. Phenominal baserunner, intelligent player. He's overrated based on "clutch" performance and his fielding. Jeter's not a very good shortstop at all. If he couldn't hit, he wouldn't hold a job based on his fielding like Adam Everett could.

 

David Ortiz - Terrific clutch performances. Anyone notice that despite being the most feared hitter in the American League, he finished seventh in intentional walks last year, his only year in the top ten? He gets pitched to because Manny hits behind him. No other player in baseball has as much lineup protection. The kicker is that analysts frequently say that Albert Pujols is the best hitter, but Ortiz is the best clutch hitter. Given that Pujols is a .336 hitter in the postseason, that's asinine.

 

Michael Young - People will assume you are scrappy if you are white. Young hit .331 last year. He also plays in the best hitters' park in the league and he is about as bad a fielder, if not worse, than Derek Jeter. He has all the range of a traffic cone.

 

Paul Lo Duca - The worst second half player in baseball. He has posted slugging percentages worse than .400 two of the last three seasons.

 

Johnny Damon - A good player and the Red Sox will miss him. His contributions however are not as irreplaceable as people think. Oakland let him go and managed to improve their win total.

 

Underrated

Jonny Gomes - His early returns are for real. He ranks among the better sluggers in the A.L., but is often overlooked.

 

Chone Figgins - Posted win shares of 24 and 20 the last two years, but has yet to make the All Star team.

 

Rafael Furcal - Hits, steals, plays excellent defense. He's the best shortstop in the National League, has little competition, and has only been in one All-Star game. He's better than Jimmy Rollins who will likely win the fan vote again.

 

Mark Buehrle - Five consecutive years of 220+ innings, 128 ERA+, .616 winning percentage.

 

Andruw Jones - Jones' defense, in my opinion, was the real "Mazzone effect."

[Vampiro69 0]

I actually believe that Michael Young is not overrated. You don't hear much talk about the guy and he is a great player.

 

Overrated I would say Adam Dunn. The guy has a low batting average, and rarely gets any sacrifice flies. His two saving graces is his OBP and home runs.

[Guest NYankees]

Al has lost all credibility with me. Anyone who says that Derek Jeter plays bad defense is a Moron who has never watched a Yankee game. Guy is so horrible on defense that must be the reason why he has won the past two gold gloves and makes run saving plays everygame. Here is my personal overrated lists.

 

 

Bobby Abreu

Pat Burrell

Ryan Howard

Tom Gordon

Chase Utley

Jimmy Rollins

 

 

 

Ooo Yeah the other 20 men on the Phillie's roster.

 

 

The Reason why the team is overrated? They were supposed to dethrone the Braves the past 5 years and couldn't do it. Couldn't even make the playoffs.

 

Michael Young is overrated? HAHAHAHAHAHA. The guy hit 330 last year with 140 rbis'. The man has the most hits in the majors the past several seasons.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'm suprised you of all people would list Furcal on the underrated list.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I actually believe that Michael Young is not overrated. You don't hear much talk about the guy and he is a great player.

 

Overrated I would say Adam Dunn. The guy has a low batting average, and rarely gets any sacrifice flies. His two saving graces is his OBP and home runs.

I'll address Michael Young in the next response. Adam Dunn is what he is, and that is one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. He strikes out a lot, but he makes less groundball and flyball outs than nearly any other hitter in the game.

 

The sacrifice fly comment is interesting. In 2005, Dunn hit two sacrifice flies all season. He came to the plate 32 times with a runner on third, less than two outs. Nine times he walked, leaving 23 at bats. He went 5 for 23 in those appearances, with one double and two home runs. 16 RBIs though. Maybe he needs to cut down on his swing in those situations. He's certainly getting pitched around unless the bases are loaded. In any case, that's a minor part of the game.

 

Dunn's OPS+ would rank among the top 20 active players if he qualified, yet he's only been to one All-Star game. That shows me people are fully aware of his flaws, and perhaps underestimating his abilities if that. Batting average doesn't mean much compared to OBP. Dunn produces.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Al has lost all credibility with me. Anyone who says that Derek Jeter plays bad defense is a Moron who has never watched a Yankee game. Guy is so horrible on defense that must be the reason why he has won the past two gold gloves and makes run saving plays everygame. Here is my personal overrated lists.

The big problem with discussing fielding is that people can make broad statements about defense and there is no way to knock them down. Show them the stats and they will say that stats do not matter. In the new book, The Fielding Bible, the authors look at various ways to analyze fielding, and every single measure indicates Jeter is one of the worst fielders in the majors.

 

Baseball Info Solutions watched every single game last year, and recorded where outs were made and where hits were made. Doing nothing more than counting, they found that Jeter allowed more hits past him that a normal fielder would have gotten to than any shortstop in baseball, except Michael Young. I have become convinced that the problem with Yankee fans is that they watch Jeter and then they close their eyes and go "la la la," whenever anyone else plays shortstop, and thus they have never seen a real shortstop play defense.

 

 

Bobby Abreu

Pat Burrell

Ryan Howard

Tom Gordon

Chase Utley

Jimmy Rollins

 

 

 

Ooo Yeah the other 20 men on the Phillie's roster.

 

 

The Reason why the team is overrated? They were supposed to dethrone the Braves the past 5 years and couldn't do it. Couldn't even make the playoffs.

 

Ok. Tom Gordon wasn't on those teams. Ryan Howard was on for half a year, And when were they supposed to dethrone the Braves? Playboy picked them to finish last in 2003. Do you have any reasons or are you just stirring shit. And for the record, there are 25 roster spots in the majors, not 26.

 

Michael Young is overrated? HAHAHAHAHAHA. The guy hit 330 last year with 140 rbis'. The man has the most hits in the majors the past several seasons.

You just stated the Phillies were overrated because they haven't won. Michael Young has played on one team that saw .500. Young has hit .322 at home over the course of his career. On the road, that batting average drops to .273 with a .314 OBP. As noted before, his defense is atrocious, and you can see that by the amount of runs the Rangers allow on an annual basis. And for the record, Teixiera hit 144 RBIs. Young had 91.

 

The answer Vampiro, he's overrated because he makes every single underrated list. One analyst said he's due for his "breakout" season, like adding 28 points to his batting average wasn't that breakout.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm suprised you of all people would list Furcal on the underrated list.

How come? Furcal's one of those players who contributes at all facets of the game. He hits for a decent average, draws walks, has pop, steals bases at a high percentage, and plays very good defense. There's no stat to hang your hat on like a .331 batting average, but he's every bit as valuable as the Jeter's and Tejada's.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I think it's pretty obvious that Anglesault v2 was starting shit with you.

 

I'm also surprised Andruw could be in anyone's underrated list since last year. But, I agree that the smarter baseball fans tend to put him down too much.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I think Jones gets underrated so much is because he strikes out alot. But whatever, atleast he still homers.

[randomguy 0]

Tom Gordon is certainly overrated. Playoff death. He's a great guy to have pitching when the game means nothing. In a close game he's no better than any average pitcher. Worse probably.

 

The Red Sox historic comeback was due mostly to Gordon.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

In defense of Jeter, Baseball Prospectus (whose defensive metrics leave something to be desired) has him as above average fielder the past two years after 5 or so consecutive as among the worst in the game. That doesn't make him some Gold Glove wonder, but it does indicate that he is bashed a little bit too heavily for his atrocious fielding.

 

I would definitely agree that Dunn is majorly underrated. Everyone puts him down because of the strikeouts but he is a HR and OBP machine and one of the best hitters in the game.

 

I would also nominate Travis Hafner for the underrated list. His numbers aren't much less than what Ortiz puts up, but with about 1/10 as much hype.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Tom Gordon is certainly overrated. Playoff death. He's a great guy to have pitching when the game means nothing. In a close game he's no better than any average pitcher. Worse probably.

 

The Red Sox historic comeback was due mostly to Gordon.

Who is overrating him though? Gordon's been abysmal in the postseason, and I think that is a combination of poor luck and stamina. Gordon's second half stats are traditionally worse, with the caveat that his best month is August. His performance is nearly identical with RISP and bases empty, the sole difference being that his opponents' OBP is higher with runners on thanks to the 50 intentional walks his managers ordered.

 

Last year, during a stretch run I think he can all agree was very close, Gordon allowed five runs the last two months of the season, a 1.61 ERA during that span. He features perhaps the best curveball in baseball. Overall, I think he's rated fairly.

[snuffbox 0]

Underrated - Bill Hall.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I'm suprised you of all people would list Furcal on the underrated list.

How come? Furcal's one of those players who contributes at all facets of the game. He hits for a decent average, draws walks, has pop, steals bases at a high percentage, and plays very good defense. There's no stat to hang your hat on like a .331 batting average, but he's every bit as valuable as the Jeter's and Tejada's.

 

 

Going into the season a career .348 OB%. For a leadoff hitter that's below average. You've always been a proponent of a good OB%. Figured you'd look down at a leadoff hitter with such a low OB.

 

I'd put Chris Capuano, Jason Bay, and maybe Placido Polanco on the underrated list.

 

Pretty much any closer goes on the overrated list.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Gold Glove awards are overrated. Guys can win them based solely on past reputation. That's not to say winners don't deserve them, but after you win a few, you seem to win more based on rep moreso than actual play.

 

Question for Al - do you think Abreu deserved a Gold Glove last year (he did win it, right?). He's got a very good arm, but I wouldn't call him anything other than an average fielder.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Underrated - Bill Hall.

 

I was just going to mention Billy. The guy is the ultimate utility starter...he can play basically any infield position (3B, 2B, and SS mostly), and can play centerfield. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he could catch if he had to. Right now he has a .305 batting average with 7 home runs and 15 RBIs on the year, and that's just with 85 ABs. The guy is a constant offensive threat, and that's why Ned Yost makes sure he plays as much as possible.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Going into the season a career .348 OB%. For a leadoff hitter that's below average. You've always been a proponent of a good OB%. Figured you'd look down at a leadoff hitter with such a low OB.

 

The N.L. average for OBP last season was .330. No one's been helpful enough to come up with the league average batting leadoff, but ESPN.com's sortable stats gives us a list of players batting leadoff (min. 200 plate appearances). Of the 36 players, Furcal ranked 22nd last year. Yeah, that's low. But keep in mind what OBP is. The difference between a .348 OBP and a .368 OBP is two hits in every hundred plate appearances. That's just 12 times extra reaching base in an entire season. It might be sub-optimal for a leadoff hitter, but it is not Jose Reyes either.

 

I'd put Chris Capuano, Jason Bay, and maybe Placido Polanco on the underrated list.

 

Jason Bay is overlooked, but probably not underrated. If you ask someone to comment on Jason Bay he'll be universally praised. Capuano I'm not sold on yet. He had one very good season, but that does not necessarily make a good player. He walked almost four guys an inning last season. He's off to a good start this year though, and if he keeps this up through 2006 he should be solid. Placido Polanco is the intangibles player that everyone pictures Jeter as. Polanco is possibly the smartest player I've ever seen.

 

Pretty much any closer goes on the overrated list.

 

The one-year wonders at least. Todd Jones, Dan Kolb, etc. I can't emphasize this enough. Do not evaluate relief pitchers based on one season.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Gold Glove awards are overrated. Guys can win them based solely on past reputation. That's not to say winners don't deserve them, but after you win a few, you seem to win more based on rep moreso than actual play.

 

Question for Al - do you think Abreu deserved a Gold Glove last year (he did win it, right?). He's got a very good arm, but I wouldn't call him anything other than an average fielder.

The problem with Gold Glove voting is the same with the over/underrated poll. Guys win gold gloves on pluralities. For all we know, Jeter got 15-20% of the vote. It is certainly not condusive to an accurate result.

 

And no, there is no way that Abreu deserved that gold glove.

 

Underrated - Bill Hall.

 

I was just going to mention Billy. The guy is the ultimate utility starter...he can play basically any infield position (3B, 2B, and SS mostly), and can play centerfield. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he could catch if he had to. Right now he has a .305 batting average with 7 home runs and 15 RBIs on the year, and that's just with 85 ABs. The guy is a constant offensive threat, and that's why Ned Yost makes sure he plays as much as possible.

Hall certainly, but again he's a guy I might throw in the overlooked pile. He's usually praised.

 

One guy I forgot. Craig Wilson.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

How about some nominations for overrated? I'd throw out Scott Podsednik, David Eckstein, Juan Pierre and Jose Reyes. I hate to pick on these guys, but I think it's just a function of the media types loving speed guys at the top of the order despite huge flaws in their overall game.

 

Most of the Sox and Yankees players get overrated, but that has to do with them being in the spotlight all the time.

[Guest Felonies!]

Pierre is playing like the drizzling shits right now. Pick on him all you want. He throws like a girl and hits like one too. To hell with speed guys. We're not running a 50-yard dash. Get on base.

 

The reason that Al is a mod and I'm not is that I would've just thrown NYankees out of here for that blatant trolling "all the Phillies HAHA" crap. I'm so hot-tempered and erratic, you see.

[Guest Princess Leena]

One needs to be even-tempered and not rule with an IRON FIST to be a mod? Boo.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

How about some nominations for overrated? I'd throw out Scott Podsednik, David Eckstein, Juan Pierre and Jose Reyes. I hate to pick on these guys, but I think it's just a function of the media types loving speed guys at the top of the order despite huge flaws in their overall game.

 

I agree with those guys except Eckstein. When you have a guy who plays a key defensive position and posts a .350 OBP, it's a huge help. For Eckstein, OBP is the ONLY stat that matters. He just needs to be on base when Pujols and company come up.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Underrated, overlooked what's the difference?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Underrated, overlooked what's the difference?

Essentially an overlooked player just lacks name value. An underrated player is one who fans and others know, but specifically miss their value.

[The Man in Blak 0]

How about some nominations for overrated? I'd throw out Scott Podsednik, David Eckstein, Juan Pierre and Jose Reyes. I hate to pick on these guys, but I think it's just a function of the media types loving speed guys at the top of the order despite huge flaws in their overall game.

 

I agree with those guys except Eckstein. When you have a guy who plays a key defensive position and posts a .350 OBP, it's a huge help. For Eckstein, OBP is the ONLY stat that matters. He just needs to be on base when Pujols and company come up.

 

I'm not sure Eckstein is really held in such a high regard to be considered overrated anyway. Most people consider him to be the quintessential Little Guy That Could who gives his all on every play - not a world beater, but a decent, if unremarkable, complimentary player. As a result of his size, his range is terrible, which makes him an awful shortstop by default, but the Cardinals have done a lot to help minimize the damage (such as strengthening his arm through offseason throwing programs).

 

Reyes is an interesting case. Due to the massive push from the NY hype machine when he initially came up, he definitely could have qualified as an overrated prospect. After a botched run at 2B and the emergence of David Wright as the new uber-prospect on the Mets roster, the hype has died down a little bit, just in time for Reyes to actually pick up some plate discipline this year. I'm not saying he's underrated yet, but if he maintains his current 2006 performance so far, I don't think it's too far fetched to say that he could potentially be one of the top three shortstops in the National League.

[Guest NYankees]

I think it's pretty obvious that Anglesault v2 was starting shit with you.

 

I'm also surprised Andruw could be in anyone's underrated list since last year. But, I agree that the smarter baseball fans tend to put him down too much.

 

 

I am not Anglesault but yes my response was pure sarcasm. Leena you are a very smart woman.

[Guest]

Why do you say it's sarcasm every time that you half-assedly flame someone?

 

Mark Buehrle and Andruw are underrated, Chipper Jones is overrated.

 

I'll think of more.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Underrated -- Bronson Arroyo

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think it's pretty obvious that Anglesault v2 was starting shit with you.

 

I'm also surprised Andruw could be in anyone's underrated list since last year. But, I agree that the smarter baseball fans tend to put him down too much.

 

 

I am not Anglesault but yes my response was pure sarcasm. Leena you are a very smart woman.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from sarcasm. It doesn't work.

[vivalaultra 0]

The most underrated pitcher in all of baseball is Roy Oswalt, but that's probably because of his reserved attitude. However, after he wins 20 straight games for the third season in a row and gets the Cy Young award that he deserved in 2004, people hopefully will start to notice him. He deserves it...except last nite. He was pretty bad last nite, but he's usually good. Yeah...really good.

 

I think the most overrated pitchers in baseball are the two Cubs' aces, Wood and Prior. Every single year it's the same thing. People get all excited, they start the season the DL. People get all excited. They come back, pitch a few games, go back on the DL. Kerry Wood struck out 20 Astros in one game, but if he ever starts 20 games in a season, color me surprised.