Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Answer
For all of you who may have read the blog recently and wondered, well, who is the most underrated baseball player? The answer is very simple, it's Lance Berkman. He doesn't get the media exposure that many of the top hitters in baseball do, but every year he quietly puts up spectacular numbers. The most telling stat is his OPS (On base % + Slugging %), where he ranks 16th all time, and 4th among active players. The names he's behind on that list are some of the great hitters of all time: Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, DiMaggio, and Musial. The three players who are ahead of him are Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, and Todd Helton. Manny can be disqualified because he's trying to get pregnant, and even though I'm not usually one to admit this, you can't discount Coors Field when evaluating Todd Helton's statistics. So that leaves Pujols and Berkman as the top 2 hitters in the game. Would anyone out there have ever put those 2 together? Doubtful. For those of you who thought that Adrian Gonzalez was the pick, he was a great guess, but if he stopped playing tomorrow he hasn't put up the stats consistently enough to be remembered. Berkman is the same age as A-Rod, but has never had a hint of steroid suspicion. He plays all 3 OF positions and 1B. He's 2 HRs shy of 300 for his career, has a career .300 average, .412 OBP, and .557 slugging. The closest he has come to an MVP was in 2006, when he placed 3rd behind Pujols and winner Ryan Howard with a stat line of .315 average, 45 HRs, and 136 RBIs. Pretty phenomenal for not winning the award. Berkman deserves to be considered with the best of the best, not just a marginally good All-Star. 30 years ago Berkman is a first ballot hall of famer, but in the steroid era he doesn't even get a sniff from the casual fan. So to Lance Berkman, I salute you.
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Yeah, I never would have guessed that Berkman had those kind of stats. How many players in baseball history had 300 homers and hit a career .300 average? I'm guessing not too many. And you are 100% correct about him being a first-ballot Hall of Famer 30 years ago. (The same could be said for Dave Roberts, Roy Oswalt, and C.C. Sabathia, although 30 years ago Sabathia doesn't make it out of single A ball because he can't run windsprints to save his life.) Nice job.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree with only Dave Roberts in that group that you mentioned. It's not that he's not good, but 30 years ago everyone ran and played small ball, so I'm not sure if he really would have been a standout or just one of the crowd. Hitting HRs like Berkman can do carried more weight back then, as opposed to now, when every 2B and SS has 25 a year. But I think he would have garnered a lot more attention and praise 30 years ago for his talents. I'm not sure the Big Puma could run windsprints either, he probably would have been stuck at 1B for his career, which might have been a good thing. It's just a shame to see a guy like him be marginalized in this era when he clearly produces like few ever have.
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