Career Stats: 1,673 G; .286/.351/.455; 202 HR; 870 RBI; 1,706 H; 843 R; 103-for-171 SB. His 2,043 hits rank 10th all-time among players who played primarily catcher in their career, and his .280 career average speaks to his offensive prowess. Is Bryce Harper the most underrated player in baseball and is Bo Bichette the most overra. He led the Tigers in hits and RBI, broke up three no-hitters, crushed five grand slams and with Game 7 of the World Series a scoreless tie in the seventh inning, Northrup stroked a two-run double off of the Cardinals' Bob Gibson that wound up being the series-winning hit. Three years later, he was runner-up in NL MVP voting when he led the league in batting average (.340), hits (216), doubles (50) and RBI (137) while slugging 36 home runs. In seven seasons with the team, he won 70 games and posted a 3.98 ERA (106 ERA+) while leading the league in innings pitched three times and tallying 23 complete games. Missed the first three parts of this series? 1919 Cincinnati Reds. Owner of 11 Gold Glove awards, including nine straight from 1993 through 2001, Vizquel only made three All-Star games, due primarily to the fact that he's been overshadowed by those who were more offensively gifted. He resurfaced with Team Netherlands in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, posting a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings over two starts. But with a wiry framehe was 6'2", 160 pounds when the Red Sox drafted himnobody thought he'd be anything more than someone with gap power. White chased the ball down and caught it while crashing full speed into the walla play some have said was more impressive than "The Catch" by Willie Maysthen threw a strike to Blue Jays' second baseman Roberto Alomar. Closers Brian Wilson, Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo received the bulk of the attention in the Giants bullpen during their impressive run to three World Series titles in five years. All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. The first Angel to hit for the cycle, Fregosi was not only the face of the franchise in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but he was regarded as the best hitting shortstop in the game during that span as well. On July 17, 1941, the Indians were playing the New York Yankees. One of the clubhouse leaders of some great Phillies teams during the late 2000s and early 2010s, Ruiz had six seasons with at least 2.0 WAR in his 11 years with the team. His batting average fell 64 points (from .289 to .225) and his OPS dropped 79 points (from .863 to .784), yet his average exit velocity (91 mph), hard-hit percentage (46.7 percent), expected SLG (.542) and barrel percentage (16 percent) were all excellent, and his 7.9 percent walk rate was the best of his career. He has two 20/20 seasons on his resume and fell three home runs short of adding three more to his collection. A reliever as a rookie in 2010 (44 G, 1.30 ERA) and an All-Star as a starter the following year (13-8, 3.51 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 169 IP), Ogando's debut coincided with the Rangers appearing in back-to-back World Series. He was just 17 years old when his Rookie Cards were featured in the 1997 Bowman and Bowmans Best sets. Pitching: Christy Mathewson leads the pitching staff and he would battle Wagner for player of the decade honors. Watson became famous for scoring the 1,000,000th run inMLBhistory on May 4, 1975, narrowly beating Cincinnati's Dave Concepcion for the honor. Its just a challenge for any non-As fan to name one of theseguys. It was an era in baseball defined by power. Watson is underrated due to his immense contributions to the sport. Seattle Mariners designated hitter Ty France (23) is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park. Said Bill James in The New Baseball Abstract: No other player in baseball history was so richly praised for his defensive skillno one. Career Stats: 443 G (412 GS); 176-137; 3.44 ERA; 1.25 WHIP; 2,895.1 IP; 2,572 H; 1.61 K/BB. The 26-year-old carried that success into 2021, and he has turned himself into a future All-Star. A nine-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner during his 15 major-league seasons, Santo wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame until nearly 40 years after his retirementand tragically, one year after his death. Longtime sports writer and researcher Bob Carroll wrote an article for the National Pastimein 1985 about 12 players he believed should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. With six 30-homer seasons, six 100-RBI seasons and a career 144 OPS+, Berkman was one of the most feared sluggers of the 2000s. Conine wasn't about gaudy numbershe was simply consistent. He had a 126 OPS+ with 22 home runs, 22 steals and a career-high 3.5 WAR in 151 games in 2013, earning a two-year, $8.5 million extension. Indian Bob Johnson never had one of those super seasons that make everyone sit up and whistle. He has Rookie Cards in 1999 Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowmans Best, Stadium Club, Topps and Topps Chrome. Graig Nettles and Darrell Evans came up in yesterday's post. Its not the best peak in baseball history, but it also isnt far off. And . His 1985 season saw him earn his only All-Star berth and finish fifth in the MVP voting, after setting career highs in multiple categories including RBI, with 110 driven in on the season. It is once again a collection of players who have been largely forgotten by the hobby, but at their peak, they were among the best in the game at their respective positions. Not to mention a career batting average over .310 (including the highest single season batting average of the 2000s[.372!]) Originally drafted as a catcher, Walker posted a 114 OPS+ while averaging 29 doubles, 16 home runs, 70 RBI and 2.7 WAR in six seasons as the everyday second baseman with the Pirates. Top 5 Underrated Position Players 5: Ty France (UTIL), Seattle Mariners Last year, Ty France came on to the scene when he hit over .300 in 23 appearances during the shortened season. Career Stats: 1,553 G; .251/.332/.420; 210 HR; 773 RBI; 1,352 H; 653 R; 10-for-32 SB. Please enter the verification code that you received on your email. Career Stats: 331 G (273 GS); 139-113; 2.76 ERA; 1.23 WHIP; 2,192 IP; 2,092 H, 1.75 K/BB. Abreus quietly wrapping up his career as we speak, his best years a distant memory. Furillo finished his career needing only one hit to raise his career average to .300. My thought, by the way, is that many 19th century ballplayers are underrated and that were just re-discovering them via Baseball Reference.). Larry Wayne Jones is one of the greatest switch-hitters of all-time. He was also an excellent fielder who held multiple fielding records at the time of his retirement that have since been passed. He was a two-time All-Star and also won a Silver Slugger. Had he spent the bulk of his career elsewhere, Watson is probably pushing 300 home runs, if not more. His best season came two years later with the Angels in 1991, when he went 18-11 with a 2.89 ERA, finishing third in the American League Cy Young Award voting. Steve Finley is the perfect example of a "late bloomer," not breaking out offensively until 1996, his eighth major league season at which point he was already 31 years old. In 2010, as a member of the Padres, Eckstein went 113 consecutive games without committing an error as a second baseman, a record that stood until this past August when the Cubs' Darwin Barney tied it and later broke it. But that overshadowed what was a wonderful career on the field, and especially when fielding his position. Ibanez began his MLB career with five forgettable seasons as a part-time player with the Mariners before breaking out in Kansas City. Id like to see more focus on what Bonds did over his first 13 seasons, 1986 through 1998, before its generally assumedhe began taking steroids. He would become a five-time All-Star and win three Gold Gloves patrolling center field for the Royals, twice hitting .300 or better while leading the American League in doubles in 1970 and again in 1976. While his lifetime ERA of 3.17 would lead someone to expect Steve Rogers to have a more impressive career win-loss record, he was often the victim of terrible run support during many challenging years in Montreal. He led American League third basemen four times inassists, five times indouble plays, and twice infielding percentage. I find that to be an amazing statistic. Before he was a postseason hero serving as a veteran utility man for the Washington Nationals, Kendrick was a rock solid second baseman for the better part of a decade with the Angels. He was the team's everyday shortstop for three seasons, earning MVP votes in 2008 and an All-Star nod in 2009 when he hit .320/.389/.490 for a 132 OPS+ and 6.2 WAR in 137 games. He was also a phenomenal defensive second baseman as well and one of the best at turning the double play, yet he never received a Gold Glove Award due to the presence of two other second basemen who were equally as adept with the glove: the Royals' Frank White and the Tigers' Lou Whitaker. Look past Heywards garish traditional stats, though, and a brightly talented player emerges, one whos averaged All Star-level WAR since the beginning of his career. Jurrjens made 115 starts in the big leagues before his age-26 season, going 50-33 with a 3.40 ERA in 702.1 innings, and he was an All-Star in 2011 when he went 13-6 with a 2.96 ERA in 152 innings. His production was as steady as any player could hope, even if he was never a bonafide superstar. After averaging 147 games played over his first five seasons,a shoulder injury that he suffered in 1936 bogged down his career after that, and he would play in more than 100 games only once before calling it quits. Biggiocost his team 100 defensive runs lifetime which will rank worst among Hall of Famers, at least until someone like Dick Allen, Derek Jeter or Gary Sheffield goes in. So Oquendo proved his worth as a super utility player, playing every position except for catcher in 1987 when Cardinals' manager Whitey Herzog dubbed him "the secret weapon." However, who were the most underrated MLB players of the 2010s? (In the interest of full disclosure, I figure in the former group.). We take the notion of "rated" seriously around here. Fck. Now go take a look at his career stats. How can someone who has a losing record over the course of his career be considered underrated? Now, when anyone mentions Bonds, its to marvel over the freakishstats he offered from 2001 through 2004 or, conversely, to denounce his Hall of Fame candidacy. The No. Read our. Career Stats: 2,011 G; .284/.376/.527; 393 HR; 1,199 RBI; 1,949 H; 1,251 R; 67-for-117 SB. Career Stats: 1,887 G; .267/.354/.475; 318 HR; 1,147 RBI; 1,703 H; 945 R; 14-for-33 SB. While Abbott wasn't an elite pitcher, the fact that he lasted a decade in major league baseball with only one hand is truly a remarkable featand it's a shame that future generations will view him only as an oddity and not as the inspirational figure he truly isif they notice him at all. Top 10 Players of the 1900s 1. Take .05 off from his career OPS (quite a significant amount) and it still rounds up to .9. During the first six seasons of the 2000s, he hit .292/.406/.584 while averaging 35 home runs, 98 RBI and 6.1 WAR and winning a Gold Glove every year. Had Jim Wynn not spent 11 years of his 15-year career playing in the Houston Astrodome, one of the more pitching friendly parks in the history of the game, chances are that he'd have approachedor surpassedthe 400 home run mark for his career. While he hit the first-ever home run at Veterans Stadium as a member of the Phillies, it wasn't until Don Money was traded to the Brewers following the 1972 season that he enjoyed the most success of his career. He was a multi-inning bullpen weapon in 2005 (65 G, 5 SV, 2.21 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 85.2 IP) and an excellent starter in 2008 (22 GS, 10-8, 2.54 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 141.2 IP) in what was his only year as a full-time member of the rotation. Everyone loves labels, especially when it comes to athletes. Bob Watson not only played in relative obscurity for 13 seasons with the Astros but also had his home-run total reduced by the cavernous Houston Astrodome. Career Stats: 2,488 G; .267/.322/.357; 101 HR; 950 RBI; 2,326 H; 993 R; 321-for-430 SB. He tallied 10 complete games and three shutouts during that stretch, and he was an All-Star in '04 when he went 14-9 with a 3.38 ERA in 215.2 innings. Rocky Colavito, Vote: The most-deserving players not in the Baseball Hall of Fame at each position, The best baseball player not in the Hall of Fame, Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? From his first full season in the MLB rotation in 2006 through the 2013 season, he was one of the most durable pitchers in baseball, making at least 30 starts and working at least 180 innings . He falls short of being Cooperstown worthy, butConcepcion's career was celebrated in Cincinnati back in 2007, when his jersey, No. A fixture on the first four National League All-Star teams from 1933 though 1936, Wally Berger was a power-hitting center fielder who led the National League in home runs (34) and RBI (130). Elton Brand 11. Clutch. Career Stats: 1,190 G; .256/.346/.317; 14 HR; 254 RBI; 821 H; 339 R; 35-for-68 SB. The best they can generally hope for is a belated nod from the Veterans Committee. At the time he retired in 1985, his .980 career fielding percentage was the highest career mark for any shortstop, though that's since been surpassed by seven players, including Jimmy Rollins and Troy Tulowitzki, the new record holder. By the time his career was over, he had become the only player with as many as 2,705 hits before 1975 not elected to baseballs Hall of Fameand only two players, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, had played more games in center field than Doc Cramer. Jim Abbot underrated because he had one hand.His best season came two years later with the Angels in 1991, when he went 18-11 with a 2.89 ERA, finishing third in the American League Cy Young Award voting.