Brandon Phillips: One Of Many Underrated Players In The Majors

Brandon Phillips

2011 Season

AVG	HR	RBI	OBP
.300	18	82	.353
Career
.272	130	524	.322

Brandon Phillips an upcoming Free Agent

Brandon Phillips deserves not only underrated recognition, but also great Resilience recognition as well. Phillips hit .206 with the Indians through 432 At bats, and 4 partial seasons. In 2006 the resurgence began with a trade for Jeff Stevens that would send Phillips to Cincinnati.

Once dealt to the Reds Phillips was a lock in the lineup batting .276 his first season with them. He exhibited both power, and speed accumulating 17 Hr 75 Rbis and 25 Sb on only 27 attempts! This was just the start of how great  he would play in the seasons to come. The following year in just 9 more games, Phillips hit 30 Hr with 94 Rbi and 32 Sb becoming one of a selected handful in the 30/30 club.     

Through 6 full years now with the Reds Phillips has played a great field committing only 50 Errors through 6 full seasons which did include him making a couple starts at SS, but marking his territory as a dominant 2B with power, speed, and above average plate discipline. 

Although he has been so great of late, Phillips' had a 4 year delay (2002-2005) in becoming an everyday player that shattered any hopes of having outstanding career numbers. Up to this point at the age of 30, he has started just one game shy of 1000 total throughout his career. 

Paul Konerko: One Of Many Underrated Players In The Majors

   Paul konerko

AVG	HR	RBI	OBP
.305	25	76	.384

Paul Konerko, the name has been on the back of a Whitesox jersey for years  now. Is there any respect  for this man outside of Chicago?

      Those numbers are from the 2011 season alone, but are his career stats any different? Paul Konerko has quietly been one of the most consistent players in baseball for the last 12 years. Yet struggles to make all-star games with a .300 average and 25 HR at the break. 

     This blog could be about Paul Konerko or could be about how favored and unfair those east coast teams truly are. This guy is a career .280 hitter with nearly 400 HR, but instead of ESPN talking about him, they choose to talk about B.J Upton a guy who is hitting .225 at the moment. Why do guys like that get time on the air and players like Konerko get unseen? Paul Konerko lead the Whitesox to a World series in 2005 but it was quickly forgotten 6 months later at the start of the next season. 

     I am a Whitesox fan but this makes no difference in the matter that Paul Konerko is a great player and goes unseen throughout the majors. Konerko has been in the league for over 10 seasons and is still barely recognized, which in my mind is just unacceptable. The man has been the anchor in this Whitesox lineup and is just a real class-act. Class-acts such as Konerko just deserve so much more respect, like Jeter on the Yankees. Jeter is a Yankee yes, but he is a like-able guy. I respected the 3000 hits because as a fan of the game, you have to appreciate as a Yankee what Jeter accomplished. He day in and day out played on the biggest stage in baseball at a level that some players simply could not handle in pinstripes.

  

     I could just be fed up with the Bias approach to baseball in general with AL East, but something tells me that this is a very viable blog about a player who is not respected as he should be.

    

   

.305

25

76

.384

Clayton Kershaw: One Of Many Underrated Players In The Majors

Clayton Kershaw    

ERA	W-L	SO	WHIP
2.68	13-4	177	1.03

Los Angeles Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw works against the San Diego Padres in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 1, 2011, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

        When a player has a stat line as impressive as Kershaw's, it is mind boggling that he doesn't get the same coverage as other pitchers such as Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia. 

      
       His arsenal consists of a 96 MPH fastball, 80 MPH curve with literally 12 inches of break downward and a slider that is rarely used but is still effective. The fastball and curve account for nearly 85% of his Pitch Count.

       After Monday's start Kershaw now has 4 complete games. Despite striking out a season low of 4 in Monday's start; Kershaw was able to pitch a complete game, and Maintain his National League's best 9.87 strikeout per 9 ratio. This season he has become my favorite pitcher to watch as well as the most exciting.