Who is the most underrated player in the MLB and why? How about overrated?

Underrated -- John Maine, NYM. As weird as it is to consider a New York player underrated, Maine has consistently been one of the top pitchers in the NL this season. At the time of the All-Star Break, he had better numbers than most of the pitchers chosen over him (better numbers than Smoltz, Oswalt, Webb, Hamels, Sheets -- all picked over him). He's also constantly overlooked in Cy Young talks even though he's arguably been the 4th best pitcher this year (Penny, Peavy and Young are obviously the frontrunners). Maine is 10-5, with a 3.07 era, 101 strikeouts, a whip of 1.18 and a .221 batting average against.

Overrated -- J.J. Hardy. One good month in his entire professional career (including the Minors) and his amateur career (such as high school) and he's being talked of as one of the best short stops in the game. In Mid-May, he was tied for second in the Majors in home runs, now he's tied for 20th. He's hitting a lousy .268 and since mid-May he has just three home runs and has hit right around .200.

Underrated-Roy Oswalt

Overrated-Andruw Jones(look at his range factor)

Richie Sexson is probably a little overrated but he is much more of a 2nd half player. Thats why it seems like he is terrible now. He batted .322 after the break last year with 20 something home runs. He will be in the .250 range with about 35 homers by the end of the year.

In my opinion I think the underrated/overrated players change from year to year. My pick for underrated is Joe Nathan, Closer for the Twins. He pitches like an elite big league closer yet you hardly ever here his name mention amoung the best. Since he became a full-time closer he has averaged over 40 saves per year with an era of 1.96 and a WHIP of 0.91 while also avg 92k's per season as well. You see those stats and say hey that looks a lot like M.Rivera and it does. Yet Nathan is on the books next year for a meagor $6Mil. My pick for most overrated would have to be Barry Zito. He has a huge contract at 126 mil for 7yrs which comes out to about 18 mil a yr. That's 18 million dollars a year for someone who has avg. 14 wins and 9 losses per year(It's inflated because of his 23 win Cy-Young season) . He has posted an avg era of just under 4 runs per game and his WHIP is 1.30. He has struck out 200 or more batters only once in his career and really has only one dominate pitch(Wicked Curve). Although his stats are considered above avg I can't see him being considered amoung the elite #1 pitchers in the ML. Esp not at 18 million per year.

Underrated = Kevin Youkilis - he hits for power, average, drives in runs and has a very on on base percentage. In addition he plays an excellent first base.

Overrated = Derek Jeter - not to take anything away from the way he plays, he plays the game hard and to the best of his ability, however, his stats against other 1st tier shortstops aren't that impressive. Also, he often gets credit as having "the X factor" or being a winner. Just because his team is almost every year loaded with talent which allows him to make the playoffs does not mean that he is always the reason.

I agree with u on polanco he is a great hitter but hes not overated..he was chosen to the all star game so he cant be overated i also have him in my fantasy team and love what he does for me. Most underated ill say is Orlando Cabrera from the Angels hes batting .311 with 54 RBI's and 59 runs ! he leads all AL SS in rbi's

Overated ill have to go with Mark Texiera guy had 1 good season thats all and hes ranked in the top 10 in fantasy drafts....very overated.

I think the most underrated player is Fausto Carmona. The guy was horrible last year and this year he has stepped up big time. He stepped up when Westbrook and Lee were injured. He and Sabathia go out everytime and give there team a chance to win the ball game.

I agree with you 100%.

Polanco is a great hitter. Always on base, and a fairly good defensive second baseman.

Richie Sexson is terrible. He's a strikeout machine. Not a consistent hitter at all. He has alot of pop in his bat, but doesn't do it nearly as often as he's capable.

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the most underrated player is aaron harang, he is one of the league leaders in strikeouts and wins a lot of games and gets no recognition for it, last year he had 16 wins and lead the league in strikeouts and wasnt even nominated for the cy young award

the most overrated would have to be manny ramirez, this year he made it too the all star game and his numbers werent even that great, there are plenty of guys who would have been a better choice, his numbers this year arent astonishing either i mean he has been amazing in the past years but people still talk about how great he is even though his numbers arent incredible this year

underrated- yadier molina the st. louis cardinals catcher. He is amazing at handling the cardinals pitching staff. he is also by far the best defensive catcher. his arm completely shuts down the running game. nobody steals on the cards when hes in and when they do he throws them out at a rate never seen before. If hed played longer hed hold the record for best percentage throwing out runners. He was also hitting around .300 before he got injured and he was the best player in last years post season

Underrated is Gary Sheffield, because well his numbers and bat speaks for itself. Overrated, is Roger Clements. Because one man should not get payed 20 million a year to pitch when he feels like it and pitch half a season, he is too old.. And he does not even show up to support his team, and Ichiro Suzuki, because he is too old to get paid what he is getting paid?