The epithet “most underrated” is flung around widely on the sports pages and the internet, meant to cast spotlights on athletes some consider to be neglected, but I’ve never been happy with it. I mean, If a player is recognized as being underrated, that means he’s valued, doesn’t it? Add the word “most” to the description and it means he’s a downright celebrity. And aren’t we all convinced that the world doesn’t appreciate our wonderfulness?
So okay, you get my drift about the piece to follow. It’s about baseball players who, for one reason or another, seem to have been, uh, undersung, especially of late. These are guys I’ve come to appreciate during my daily wanderings around MLB’s “Extra Innings” package, which offers subscribers every Major League game that’s televised anywhere, which is just about all of them. It fills many of the hours left vacant by TV’s summer programming and, at between $150 and $175 a season, is a great bargain to boot. That’s less than the cost of a single box-seat ticket in many cities.
The player I think best exemplifies the underrated label is JEAN SEGURA, the shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies. Here’s a guy who, to paraphrase my old horse-racing guru Sam Lewin, does nothing but hit, but gets scant credit for it. In his six full seasons after his brief (one game) rookie call up with the Angels in 2012 he’s hit safely 981 times, an average of 163 a year, and led the National League in safeties in 2016 with 203. Nevertheless, he’s been traded four times in that span, to the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Mariners and Phillies, where he’s in season one at age 29. In each of the last three seasons he’s topped the .300 mark at the plate, no mean feat in his whiff-happy era. He’s almost on pace to do it again this year, hitting .284 at midweek with his first-place team.
One possible reason for Segura getting short shrifted by many is his physique, which tends toward the chunky. That’s unusual for a shortstop but he’s fielded his position adequately and his mobility is attested to by his 174 career stolen bases. He’s stolen 20 or more bases in each of the last six seasons and in 2013, in Milwaukee, ranked second in the National League with 44 in that department. Base swiping is getting to be another lost art, so thanks to Jean for that, too.
Another player who deserves more credit than he gets is JOSE ABREU, the Chicago White Sox first baseman. Smuggled out of Cuba under perilous circumstances in 2013, he’s been the very model of power-hitting consistency in Chicago, hitting 146 home runs and driving in 488 runs over his first five Major League seasons (2014-18). He’s one of just three players to average at least 25 home runs and 100 RBIs in his first four seasons in the Bigs, the other two being Albert Pujols and Joe DiMaggio. With 16 homers and 52 ribbies already logged for this 40% completed season, the 32-year-old is on pace to better his career averages.
Abreu has been overlooked because he plays for the White Sox, a team that’s No. 2 in its home town and hasn’t done much of anything since its surprise, 2005 World Series victory. Abreu’s signing, for an eye-opening $168 million over six years, was based on the gargantuan stats he put up in his native country (he hit .453 one season), and was supposed to help reverse that. It didn’t—the Sox have been losers in all of his years with the team. Still, Abreu survived the talent dump that signaled a ground-up rebuilding program starting in 2017, and while he remains the topic of trade rumors the betting is that the Sox will try to hold on to him now that things have turned for the better. At least he gets some respect in his own locker room.
NELSON CRUZ was busted in the 2013 raids on the Biogenesis Clinic, the notorious Miami drug-dispensing operation that also netted Alex Rodriguez, and sat out a 50-game suspension that season. But instead of shriveling up he went on to prosper, hitting 40, 44 and 43 home runs in his next three seasons under, one supposes, enhanced surveillance. It makes one wonder why he thought shooting up was a good idea.
Despite his diminished reputation, Cruz still is going strong at age 38, helping his new club, the Minnesota Twins (his fifth), mount their unexpected surge this season by anchoring the middle of their lineup as a DH. His career home run total (372) puts him fourth among active players, and his power numbers last season with the Mariners (37 HRs, 97 RBIs) showed he hadn’t slowed. He’s had injuries his year but came off the IL in June to homer in four consecutive games. Que hombre!
NICK MARKAKIS has 2,303 base hits in his 14-season career, fourth among active players, but until last season never made an All-Star team. He played nine seasons with mostly bad Baltimore Orioles teams before escaping to the better Atlanta Braves in 2014, but there has been overshadowed, first by fan favorite Freddie Freeman and, more lately, by some very talented youngsters. But on he labors at age 35, with no end in sight.
Not only is Markakis a rarity of longevity, he’s also one of durability. No one these days goes eons without missing a game, ala Cal Ripken Jr., but Markakis gives it a try, playing in all 162 last season and 160 or more in six others. Additionally, the outfielder is a three-time Gold Glove winner and set a Major League record by going 398 straight games without an error in the 2012-15 seasons. Throw in the fact he’s a perennial All-Beard and you have someone worth rooting for.
ELVIS ANDRUS was a boy wonder shortstop with the Texas Rangers’ American League champions of 2010 and 2011. He’s no longer boyish at age 30 but soldiers on in Arlington, the last remnant of those World Series teams. He’s a good fielder, proficient base-stealer and good hitter for a position that usually doesn’t demand that. About the only way he gets attention is by picking the irritating song “Baby Shark” for his walkup music. That’s going a bit far, I think.
1 comment:
It's amazing how playing fantasy baseball makes you aware of underrated players. Charlie Blackmon belongs on my list.
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