MLB: The Five Most Unsung Players in the American League
The MLB pennant races are taking shape, and every contending team has at least one unsung player that has helped put them in the thick of it. Who are the most surprising?
Entering play on Thursday, the American League boasts at least 10 teams that have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. Divisional races are heating up and the wild card standings are beginning to mean something. And as is the case in every Major League Baseball season, big-time performances are being put up seemingly out of nowhere by players on contending teams.
For teams to be successful, stars must play like stars, whether we’re talking about Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles, or Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays. But every star needs a supporting cast as well, and across MLB there is a host of unsung players that are helping to drive their teams’ playoff pushes.
Whether it’s a young pitcher flashing onto the stage, a veteran hurler finally putting it all together, a utility man who always seems to come up in the clutch, or a power surge from a guy no one outside his team’s town has ever heard of before, each contender has at least one of these unlikely heroes busting out of obscurity and into the spotlight.
So who are the most surprising? Let’s take a look at the AL’s five most unsung players.
Next: A Cy in The Six?
J.A. Happ
The Toronto Blue Jays have surged to take the outright lead in a highly-competitive AL East, and a 33-year old journeyman pitcher is a big reason why. Happ has spent parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues with five different teams, and is suddenly blowing away his career averages.
For his career, Happ owns a 3.99 earned run average, an ERA+ of 101, and a 4.14 FIP. In 2016, though, the left-hander is looking like one of the steals of last offseason’s free agent market, posting a 2.96 ERA, a 143 ERA+, and a 3.75 FIP while leading the AL in wins.
Going back to his midseason trade from the Seattle Mariners to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, Happ has been among the most consistently successful pitchers in all of baseball. In the second half last season, he put up a 1.85 ERA, an astounding 209 ERA+, and an FIP of 2.19, suggesting that this year’s success is not a fluke, but a matter of a veteran putting it all together.
In a rotation that also includes unsung guys like Aaron Sanchez and Marco Estrada, Happ’s performance stands out, and could help propel the Jays to a second straight trip to the playoffs.
Next: Motown Phenom
Michael Fulmer
The centerpiece of last summer’s trade of Yoenis Cespedes to the New York Mets, Fulmer has provided a shockingly quick return on investment for the Detroit Tigers in his rookie campaign. In a rotation that features the likes of Justin Verlander and Jordan Zimmermann, the 23-year old right-hander is not only receiving significant Rookie of the Year consideration, but also some Cy Young award buzz.
Fulmer, a first round pick of the Mets (44th overall) in 2011, was called up to the big leagues at the end of April after having thrown just 15.1 career innings at the Triple-A level. What has followed has eclipsed all expectations as the Tigers have gone 16-3 in his 19 starts.
With a mid-90s fastball and plus slider, Fulmer is leading American League pitchers with a 2.25 ERA, a 184 ERA+, and 5.1 bWAR. His 1.017 WHIP also happens to be second in the league, and he sports a 10-3 record in 120 innings of work.
Detroit is still very much in contention both in the Central Division and the wild card race, but it is unclear how much longer the team will have the services of its rookie phenom, as talk of an innings limit has begun. As has been the case with other talented young pitchers such as Stephen Strasburg, there is a delicate balance to strike between playing to win now and attempting to not mortgage the future, and it remains to be seen how cautious Brad Ausmus and the Tigers will be with Fulmer.
Next: Quiet in Camden Yards
Jonathan Schoop
The race in the AL East between the Blue Jays, the Baltimore Orioles, and the Boston Red Sox may well go down to the very last day of the season. All three teams have held sole possession of first place at one point or another in 2016, and as of this writing only two games separate them all.
Baltimore has plenty of star power and pop in their lineup with Machado, Chris Davis, Adam Jones, and a resurgent Mark Trumbo, which has allowed the solid season of the club’s second baseman to fly firmly under the radar.
At 24, Schoop is in just his third full major league season, and he’s posting career-high numbers almost across the board. Schoop is slashing .280/.312/.474 with 31 doubles, 18 home runs, 62 RBIs, and a 104 OPS+. What’s more, his 2.2 bWAR total to this point is second on the team among position players only to Machado.
Schoop has struggled mightily since the all-star break, with a .215/.240/.380 slash line and an OPS+ of just 68, and the O’s have gone 15-17 in that span. A rebound is needed from him if Buck Showalter’s squad is to make the playoffs for just the third time since 1997.
Next: Brother’s Shadow
Kyle Seager
It’s easy to be overshadowed when you’re teammates with Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz, and even more so when your younger brother happens to be the frontrunner to win the National League Rookie of the Year award. For Seattle’s Seager, though, the anonymity seems to be working out just fine.
For the fifth straight season, Seager is providing the Mariners with steady, solid production in the middle of the order. He’s slashing career-bests of .284/.359/.511, has already amassed 32 doubles, 22 homers, 79 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 137, and his 4.9 bWAR trails only Cano on the team.
That’s five straight years of 20 or more home runs, and four out of five with at least 30 doubles and 70 runs driven in, for a player that most fans outside of the Pacific Northwest probably couldn’t pick out of a lineup. Seager has proven to be a metronome for the M’s in this his fifth full big league campaign.
Seattle has been one of the streakiest teams in baseball in 2016, jumping out to a lead in the AL West, stumbling and falling back, and finally surging to get back into contention. While the club trails the Texas Rangers by seven games, only 2.5 games separate it from the second wild card. Seager’s continued unsung consistency is a must if the Mariners hope to return to the postseason for the first time in 15 years.
Next: Resurgent Red Sock
Hanley Ramirez
If it’s possible for a former Rookie of the Year, MVP runner-up, three-time all-star, and two-time Silver Slugger award winner to be unsung, that’s Ramirez on this year’s Boston Red Sox team. With David Ortiz on his farewell tour and the new Killer B’s – Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, and Jackie Bradley, Jr. – having breakout, star-turning seasons, the contributions of the 11-year veteran have gone largely unnoticed.
Save for an atrocious month of June, Ramirez has been solid for the BoSox, slashing .275/.347/.455 with 22 doubles, 16 homers, 71 RBIs, and a 109 OPS+. At 32 years old and coming off arguably the worst season of his career a year ago, Ramirez has been worth a modest 1.3 bWAR, but his role is not that of centerpiece any longer.
Next: Is Charlie Blackmon Underrated?
This is also the first time in his career that Ramirez is playing first base, and while the defensive metrics aren’t particularly kind to him, the move has been much less a disaster than his time trying to tame the Green Monster in left field. With Boston just a game behind Toronto in the AL East and currently holding the first wild card spot in the AL, it is the small, unsung contributions of Ramirez that complement the younger (and older) stars around him that could make a difference for the Red Sox.