by John Scanlan
Yesterday, prompted by the infinite wisdom of one Joesph B. Torosian, we took a look at the most underrated players in baseball from the past decade.
Joe Nathan was part of the biggest theft this side of Bernie Madoff when the Giants traded him along with Francisco Liriano to Minnesota for one extremely mediocre season of AJ Pierzynski. Liriano blossomed into a front-line starter before getting hit with injuries, but Nathan developed into an elite closer. He has posted an ERA below 1.90 in 5 of his six seasons while striking out an average of 11 per 9 innings. He has also posted an amazing WHIP of 0.920 while recording 220 saves. Needless to say, if he was in a major media market, he’d be a star. In Minnesota, he remains more anonymous than the real parents of Michael Jackson’s kids (too soon?).
Roy Oswalt has been one of the game’s Top 10 pitchers this past decade, but few outside of Houston realize it. All he does is average 220 innings while striking out 7.5 batters per 9 innings. His ERA during the decade is 3.18 and he averages less than one HR allowed per 9 innings, no small feat considering the bandbox that he pitches in. His WHIP is an impressive 1.2 and he was a big part of the 2005 World Series run. The only problem is the only pitchers talked about during that run were PEDBFFs Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite. For his efforts, Oswalt has ranked in the top 3 in Cy Young voting just once.
Roy Halladay is the only Canadian product ignored more than SCTV, except his snubbing is unjustified. While we ignore wins and losses here at Quick Scans, Halladay has won almost 70% of his decisions, an astonishing number. He has averaged 230 innings a season for the Jays while posting an ERA in the low 3’s. Halladay’s keys to success are control (he has led the AL in K/BB ratio twice and is doing so again this season) and keeping the ball in the yard, only allowing .8 homers per 9 innings. On top of that, his WHIP is below 1.2 and he finishes games, leading the AL 4 times in that category. He should be a star but is languishing in anonymity in Toronto.
Next week, we’ll look at the most overrated players from the 2000s.
Quick Scans strings together random ramblings every Monday-Thursday.
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