MLB: The Worst Players on Every NL Team

Jul 8, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Montero (47) celebrates his two run home run with shortstop Addison Russell (right) against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 8, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Montero (47) celebrates his two run home run with shortstop Addison Russell (right) against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /

Heading into the final quarter of the MLB season, these are the worst players for each National League team this year.

The worst players on each American League team came out previously, now it’s time to look at the National League. This list includes some MLB players who have been hurting their teams on a regular basis all year long and some players who are new to their teams but have been really bad in a short period of time. There are aging veterans and raw rookies. There are pitchers and hitters, with hitters outnumbering pitchers by double, ten to five.

Some of these players have had their fair share of bad luck. A hitter may have a Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP) that is well below his career mark. A pitcher could be bitten by the BABIP bug in the opposite direction or giving up more home runs per fly ball than would be expected. For many of these players, I’ve tried to identify why they may be having off years, whether it be an injury or underperformance for another reason.

I’ve tried to identify players who are currently still on his team’s roster or are due back from an injury. I’ve also included other players in contention for the worst player on the team award in most cases, even if they have been traded away or sent to the minors.

To create this list, I started with the two versions of Wins Above Replacement, Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs. I used WAR to narrow the list down, then made my choice from those players who have provided the least value to their respective teams. For pitchers, I used the Fangraphs WAR based on Runs Allowed (RA9-WAR) rather than FIP. Here are the worst players on each team in the National League.

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