MLB: Underrated Players That Deserve More Credit

We all know the superstars of MLB, like Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw and Kris Bryant. However, what we often fail to recognize are great players who do not have the same reputation as others. These players are often far underrated and should get the credit they deserve.

We baseball fans like to credit ourselves as being perfect analysts of the game. We often debate who is better than who, who is the best in the game, and who is tremendously overrated. While there is a surplus of overrated players that I have already covered, there are quite a few underrated players as well. These guys have proven to be great contributors, yet don’t quite get the recognition they deserve. While some of these guys definitely do get some recognition, it isn’t exactly what they deserve.

Justin Turner

Justin Turner is one of the best third basemen in the game, and yet he barely gets any recognition outside of Los Angeles. This offseason actually helped raise his credibility, as teams were realizing his true value. However, when asking people who their top five third basemen are, I guarantee most would not include Turner. Heck, they may not even include him in the top ten. The true fact of the matter is that Turner is easily a top five third baseman. Last season, according to Fangraphs WAR, Justin Turner was the fifth most valuable third baseman behind only Kris Bryant, Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado and Adrian Beltre.

Despite this, Turner is still getting overlooked in favor of other great third basemen. Turner was not included in the All-Star festivities last year. Instead, Nolan Arenado and Matt Carpenter were selected, two guys Turner was arguably better than. Sure, Arenado is better offensively than Turner, but when looking at in-depth fielding stats Turner was far more well-rounded. According to the Def statistic on Fangraphs, Turner was nearly twice the fielder Arenado was last season. Despite this, Arenado of course won the Gold Glove over Turner, a fellow finalist.

At this point, I don’t see how anyone can argue against Turner’s greatness. He has consistently hit just under .300, with the potential of being a 30 home run, 100 runs batted in guy. I hope in the future Turner gets the recognition he deserves as an elite third baseman in the league, because he truly is one of baseball’s best.