MLB: Most Interesting Man in Baseball – Part I

Open up a tab on your browser and type in “Best Player in MLB.” Go ahead, I’ll wait. You’ll get page after page of results. Some from this season, some from seasons past. Some from Bleacher Report, some from CBS Sports, some from our very own FanSided.

No two lists are the same, but no two lists are totally different. You’ll have Mike Trout at the top, a few buzzy young studs (Manny Machado! Nolan Arenado!! Kris Bryant!!!) just below, and somewhere around #45 a Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder. These lists are great. They make for excellent debate fodder and allow the authors to put their spin on just how great Mike Trout truly is.

This list is different. This list will have some of the same names, but it will also have a few names from off the typical “best player” radar. This list (or more accurately, a bracket, as we will make these eight men face off in a series of one-on-one battles) is bound and determined to find the most interesting player in baseball. What will make this bracket (and hopefully the debate to follow in the comments section) so fun is that interesting can have so many different interpretations to so many different people.

Arguing over an objective superlative like best can only have so many different angles. No matter how you slice it, Mike Trout is going to be, at worst, in your top three (and most people would look at you like you had four heads if you said Trout was the third-best player in baseball right now). Some writers (not this one) might not even have Trout in the top 25 most interesting players in baseball. I mean the man’s main hobby outside of baseball is meteorology for chrissakes.

When it comes to determining the most interesting man in baseball, there are several useful categories. In fact, when looking back at the history of the greatest characters in baseball, there are essentially eight different types of “interesting.” Think of it like the next Quentin Tarantino film. You’ve got the Cagey Veteran, the On-Field Quirk, the Exception to the Rule, the Straight-Up Weirdo, the Next Big Thing (?), the Just So Damn Good, the He’s One of Us and Yoenis Cespedes. There used to be the Alcoholic (Pete Alexander), the Racist (Cap Anson), and the Brawler (Sherry Magee), but those personalities have left the modern game for better or for worse (usually for better).

In Part I of this two-part series, we will name our modern representative for each of the characters above and look at a few of the players who just missed the cut in each category. In Part II, we’ll play out the actual bracket with quarterfinals, semifinals and a final matchup to determine our winner. Without further ado, let’s set up a few ground rules:

1. This list is dealing with current players. As much as Rabbit Maranville might slaughter Bryce Harper in a historical interesting showdown, we’re capping this at active big leaguers. This also eliminates more recent Interesting Hall of Fame legends, i.e. Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.
2. This list is dealing strictly with players, not managers or front office folks. Sorry, Joe Maddon and Theo Epstein.
3. The final eight (we’re getting there, I promise) will be given their seed based on number of Twitter followers. I’m borrowing this idea from Rembert Browne who uses the same method during his annual (and amazing) “Who Won the Year” bracket. Using this method makes it so I don’t have to use a random number generator, and gives a slight edge to the more well-known players. But it prevents simply knowing who is going to win the bracket before it even begins because the players are ranked one through eight.
4. Finally, yes, I did intentionally leave off your favorite player from your favorite team because I hate you personally.

Let’s get down to business.

The Cagey Veteran: Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro will be suiting up for the Marlins in 2017, his 16th season in Major League Baseball and his 25th (!) professional baseball season. In 2016, as a 42-year-old, Ichiro hit .291 with an OPS+ of 101. But on-field production is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ichiro. Perhaps it’s not surprising for a man who has been around the game as long as Ichiro has to have as many epics of lore surrounding him as Ichiro does, but it no less impressive.

There are the stories of Ichiro’s legendary All-Star Game speeches which managed to stay secret from the better part of a decade while the American League continually mopped the floor with the National League. There are the stories of how Ichiro could easily be a 40-home run hitter and, in his best Wade Boggs impression, easily trounced teammates of his in batting practice home run derby. At this point, Ichiro is the elder statesman of the league and embracing his role as such. He’s as crabby as ever and it’s as glorious as ever.

Other potential nominees: Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey, Brandon Phillips, Adrian Gonzalez, Albert Pujols, Adam Jones.

The On-Field Quirk: Carter Capps

At this point most baseball fans know of Capps. If his name doesn’t immediately do the trick, it only takes a quick “the guy who hops when he pitches” to get an “Oh yeah, I know the guy you’re talking about” from your fellow fan. If you haven’t seen Capps pitch, it’s a pretty unique sight.

When Capps has been able to stay on the field, the results have spoken for themselves (ERA+ of 331 in 2015). However, Capps has suffered a few set backs in the health department of late, and one has to wonder if his unique pitching motion has anything to do with that. We may well see another Carter Capps if he can continue his on-field success while remaining healthy (and if MLB doesn’t do anything to outlaw the “trick”), but he’s one of a kind for the time being.

Other potential nominees: Javier Baez (tagging), Adrian Beltre (head-touching), Jason Kipnis (Ricky Bobby-level of not knowing what to do with his hands while in the batters box).

The Exception to the Rule: Shohei Otani

You know all those rules we laid out just a minute ago? Of course we had to break them slightly. That’s what rules were made for, right? If you don’t know about Otani, there are plenty of great articles about the Japanese version of modern Babe Ruth. Ben Lindbergh was first on the scene (with his podcast and then an article), but Deadspin and Bleacher Report have profiles of this seemingly mythological man as well.

For the uninitiated, Otani is the best starting pitcher in the Japanese Pacific League who also just so happens to be the best hitter in the Japanese Pacific League. Otani is coming off a season in which he was basically Sandy Koufax on the mound (10-4, 1.86 ERA) and Barry Bonds at the dish (22 HR, 1.004 OPS). For reference, that 1.004 OPS figure is the same as Mike Schmidt in his 48-HR and MVP-winning 1980 season. Of course Otani is doing this in Japan not MLB, but projecting what he could be in the States is half of what makes him so interesting.

Other potential nominees: Jonny Gomes (also now playing in Japan), Jose Fernandez (Rest in Peace), Ross Ohlendorf (also also playing in Japan; man, the Japanese league is kind of interesting).

The Straight-Up Weirdo: Sean Doolittle

It’s no surprise that Doolittle takes the spot in our final eight here, as he is both a relief pitcher and an Oakland Athletic, both leading factors in creating most Straight-up Weirdos. Anyone who follows Sean Doolitte on Twitter knows just how entertaining and goofy the A’s closer can be. He’s built a name for himself around the league for not being shy about his takes (baseball and otherwise), but also not being overly Curt Schilling-y with his takes. He’s a quirky dude without being an obnoxious guy, a trap that has caught many men before him (see: Brian Wilson).

Other potential nominees: John Axford, Jason Grilli, literally any bullpen dude on literally any team.