Most Underrated Hitting Season of All Time?

[Lucas00]

Maybe not the Most underrated but definitely one of the craziest. Brady Anderson 1996.

Would nominate Wally Bergers 1930 rookie year as very underrated. A top 3 Power threat of the early-mid 30s. He is seemingly completely forgotten and very underrated.

https://youtu.be/67kJpWG-iQY

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Maybe not the Most underrated but definitely one of the craziest. Brady Anderson 1996.

Would nominate Wally Bergers 1930 rookie year as very underrated. A top 3 Power threat of the early-mid 30s. He is seemingly completely forgotten and very underrated.

https://youtu.be/67kJpWG-iQY

Brady Anderson = Roids

Bergers a good one

Hornsby amazing years in the 20's but it was all about Ruth

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Maybe not the Most underrated but definitely one of the craziest. Brady Anderson 1996.

Would nominate Wally Bergers 1930 rookie year as very underrated. A top 3 Power threat of the early-mid 30s. He is seemingly completely forgotten and very underrated.

https://youtu.be/67kJpWG-iQY

Brady Anderson = Roids

Bergers a good one

Hornsby amazing years in the 20's but it was all about Ruth

[BobC]

The fact that no one has even mentioned his name yet tells you how underrated he is. In 2004, Ichiro Suzuki batted .372 while collecting 262 hits to set the all-time ML record for hits in a single season. He broke Rogers Hornsby's previous record of 257 hits set in 1920, 84 years earlier. And despite leading the majors in hits and average that year, he only came in a distant 7th in the MVP voting. Think about that, he set an all-time batting record and topped the previous record that had existed for over 80 years, and couldn't even crack the top 5 in MVP voting. All during the height of the steroid era.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by BobC

The fact that no one has even mentioned his name yet tells you how underrated he is. In 2004, Ichiro Suzuki batted .372 while collecting 262 hits to set the all-time ML record for hits in a single season. He broke Rogers Hornsby's previous record of 257 hits set in 1920, 84 years earlier. And despite leading the majors in hits and average that year, he only came in a distant 7th in the MVP voting. Think about that, he set an all-time batting record and topped the previous record that had existed for over 80 years, and couldn't even crack the top 5 in MVP voting. All during the height of the steroid era.

Mariners were horrible that year to. Bunch of guys on that team who used to be good. If he had a better lineup behind him, he might have gotten more at bats and maybe 10-15 more hits that year then he already compiled, and probably more MVP votes.

Never helped him that he didn't exactly pile up the extra base hits or walks. Reason why I always ranked Boggs and Gwynn well ahead of him, offensively at least. Ichiro was probably superior defensively for the first half of his career anyways, even though Boggs was always better defensively, then he got credit for.

[lampertb]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Mariners were horrible that year to. Bunch of guys on that team who used to be good. If he had a better lineup behind him, he might have gotten more at bats and maybe 10-15 more hits that year then he already compiled, and probably more MVP votes.

Never helped him that he didn't exactly pile up the extra base hits or walks. Reason why I always ranked Boggs and Gwynn well ahead of him, offensively at least. Ichiro was probably superior defensively for the first half of his career anyways, even though Boggs was always better defensively, then he got credit for.

Wish the Majors would swing back to that style of hits over HR... it won't happen because of what sells tickets and advertising dollars in the modern age, but Boggs, Gwynn, Ichiro... my kind of baseball.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Mariners were horrible that year to. Bunch of guys on that team who used to be good. If he had a better lineup behind him, he might have gotten more at bats and maybe 10-15 more hits that year then he already compiled, and probably more MVP votes.

Never helped him that he didn't exactly pile up the extra base hits or walks. Reason why I always ranked Boggs and Gwynn well ahead of him, offensively at least. Ichiro was probably superior defensively for the first half of his career anyways, even though Boggs was always better defensively, then he got credit for.

I know Dave, but he broke an all-time record and the best he could get was 7th for the MVP!?!?!? How often does someone break an all-time record like that? Just goes to show how everyone was so enamored with the PED users and the long ball back then.

And as for Boggs and Gwynn being better offensively, how often did either of them bat leadoff? Wasn't that where Ichiro usually was in the order back then? As you mentioned, the Mariners were not very great then so he's not getting up a lot with people on base and chances to drive in runs. He's just trying to get on base, which he succeeded in doing a lot. As for walks, since he wasn't such a huge home run threat, and the rest of the team not that great as you say, I can see opposing pitchers pitching to him so he has to put the ball in play to get on, rather than letting him just walk a lot. Even so, he still lead the AL in intentional walks that year, but of course Bonds lead the majors with some ridiculously higher number.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by BobC

I know Dave, but he broke an all-time record and the best he could get was 7th for the MVP!?!?!? How often does someone break an all-time record like that? Just goes to show how everyone was so enamored with the PED users and the long ball back then.

And as for Boggs and Gwynn being better offensively, how often did either of them bat leadoff? Wasn't that where Ichiro usually was in the order back then? As you mentioned, the Mariners were not very great then so he's not getting up a lot with people on base and chances to drive in runs. He's just trying to get on base, which he succeeded in doing a lot. As for walks, since he wasn't such a huge home run threat, and the rest of the team not that great as you say, I can see opposing pitchers pitching to him so he has to put the ball in play to get on, rather than letting him just walk a lot. Even so, he still lead the AL in intentional walks that year, but of course Bonds lead the majors with some ridiculously higher number.

Ichiro not really a WAR darling, but with his defense that year, he had a pretty big number. I think if MVP was judged as it is nowadays, he would have had a much better showing. Might even have won it. Juan Gonzalez certainly wouldn’t have.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Ichiro not really a WAR darling, but with his defense that year, he had a pretty big number. I think if MVP was judged as it is nowadays, he would have had a much better showing. Might even have won it. Juan Gonzalez certainly wouldn’t have.

True that. I never said Ichiro should have gotten the MVP that year, just certainly not 7th in the voting. And why I added this to the discussion of most underrated hitting seasons of all time.