2013 All-Underrated Team:
1b: Belt
2b: Infante
SS: Lowrie
3b: Seager
C: Lucroy
LF: Nava
CF: Rasmus
RF: Venable
— Brian Kenny (@MrBrianKenny) January 27, 2014
... below are some thoughts on the 2013 All-Underrated Team:
First Base
Brandon Moss, Oakland A's
Kenny makes a strong choice with Brandon Belt. It seems like Belt's been a part-time player for so long. On the contrary, Belt has compiled impressive numbers in over twelve hundred plate appearances, since his debut in 2011:
Brandon Belt Career Stats (2011-13)
| Year | PA | PwrSpd | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 209 | .306 | .412 | 103 | .486 | .667 | 4.5 |
| 2012 | 472 | .360 | .421 | 123 | .630 | .795 | 8.8 |
| 2013 | 571 | .360 | .481 | 142 | .689 | .832 | 7.7 |
| 3 Yrs | 1252 | .351 | .447 | 128 | .637 | .788 | 24.9 |
Brandon Belt is a fine choice, but we would have chosen Brandon Moss of the Oakland A's. Both play in the the Bay Area and receive less-than-deserved National acclaim. Last year, Brandon Moss hit more home runs (30) than Brandon Belt hit in the past two years (24) and almost in his entire career (33). Many of Moss's advanced rate stats also compare favorably to Belt's...
Brandon Moss 2011-2013 Stats
| Year | PA | PwrSpd | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 6 | .000 | .000 | -100 | .000 | .000 | |
| 2012 | 296 | .358 | .596 | 162 | .719 | .964 | 1.9 |
| 2013 | 505 | .337 | .522 | 139 | .651 | .861 | 7.1 |
| OAK (2 yrs) | 801 | .345 | .550 | 148 | .678 | .898 | 9.1 |
| PHI (1 yr) | 6 | .000 | .000 | -100 | .000 |
Second Base
Daniel Murphy, Mets
 |
| Photo by Henry Ray Abrams |
Omar Infante, Brian Kenny's choice, has a better slash line than Daniel Murphy. Infante is better in the batter's box, but his base running is not on par with Murphy's, making him a slightly less effective offensive player.
2013 Baserunning Runs Above Average
Daniel Murphy: 6.4 Fangraphs, 5 Baseball-Reference
Omar Infante: 0 Fangraphs, -1 Baseball-Reference
2013 Batting Runs Above Average
Omar Infante: 9 Fangraphs, 7 Baseball-Reference
Daniel Murphy: 4.6 Fangraphs, 5 Baseball-Reference
Among all players who played at least 24% of their games last season at second basemen, Daniel Murphy ranked fourth in hits (188) and stolen bases (23), and fifth in RE24 (see below).
2013 MLB Second Basement by RE24
Please don't get me started on Darwin Barney.
Shortstop
Jed Lowrie, Oakland A's
Good choice by Mr. Kenny. Everth Cabrera, who has lots of speed and a .355 OBP last season, was under consideration.
Third Base
Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners
Having scoured free agent lists and team rosters from around the globe in search of undervalued third basemen for our last post, we feel most confident in agreeing with Brian Kenny at this position. Kyle Seager is a fine choice. Fans around the country are not very familiar with him, but he's probably too good for even the Yankees to be able to trade for him.
Catcher
Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers
Again, we agree with Mr. Kenny. At first, it looked like Jason Castro is the most underrated, but his under-the-radar offensive production falls just shy of Lucroy's combination of underrated overall game, particularly with his pitch framing prowess.
Left Field
Carlos Quentin, Padres
Oh man, I really wanted this to be Starling Marte of the Pirates. He's a stud, and while I don't think he has enough fans, he's not as good of a choice as Brian Kenny's choice: Daniel Nava. I was just about ready to agree with Kenny once again before turning my attention to Carlos Quentin. The Padres' left fielder had 216 fewer plate appearances than Nava last year, which could disqualify him to many. I still think Quentin is more underrated. Carlos Quentin's 145 OPS+ is the highest among all players who made at least 200 plate appearances and played at least 33% of their games in Left Field. When averaging the WAR between Fangraphs and B-R, then converting them to rate stats, we get...
2013 avWAR per 650 Plate Appearances
Carlos Quentin: 4.2
Daniel Nava: 2.8
Center Field
Mike Trout, Angels
 |
| Photo by Cal Sports Media |
| Rk | Player | PA | From | To | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Willie McCovey | 188 | 219 | 1959 | 1959 | 21-21 |
| 2 | Mike Trout | 166 | 1490 | 2011 | 2013 | 19-21 |
| 3 | Ted Williams | 161 | 1336 | 1939 | 1940 | 20-21 |
| 4 | Albert Pujols | 157 | 676 | 2001 | 2001 | 21-21 |
| 5 | Jimmie Foxx | 157 | 1302 | 1925 | 1929 | 17-21 |
Basically, Mike Trout is the best player ever.
Right Field
Will Venable, Padres
 |
| Photo by Chris Hardy |
| Split | PA | HR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHP as LHB | 405 | 16 | .266 | .313 | .473 |
| vs LHP as LHB | 110 | 6 | .276 | .309 | .524 |
All in all, we agree with Brian Kenny on half of his selections. I wonder what he thinks of my Moss, Murphy, Quentin, and Trout substitutions? Thanks for reading. How does your most underrated team look?
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