First under appreciated player that pops into your head

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by ejharrington

Keith Hernandez.

Keith Hernandez? The guy hit 162 HR in 17 years as a 1st baseman. That's less than 10 per year. He only hit 100 RBIs once, and the year he won the MVP, it should've gone to Dave Winfield.

[Deertick]

Jimmie Foxx.

Fun story about Davy Concepcion. Larry Bowa used to call him Elmer. Because he said "every time I look at the boxscore it says E. Concepcion".

[ejharrington]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Keith Hernandez? The guy hit 162 HR in 17 years as a 1st baseman. That's less than 10 per year. He only hit 100 RBIs once, and the year he won the MVP, it should've gone to Dave Winfield.

He didn’t hit a lot of home runs. So what? He was the key player on two different WS Champions. Best defensive player ever at his position. Great clutch hitter. Like I said, unappreciated.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by ejharrington

He didn’t hit a lot of home runs. So what? He was the key player on two different WS Champions. Best defensive player ever at his position. Great clutch hitter. Like I said, unappreciated.

Nobody gets signed as a first baseman because of their glove. They get signed because of their bat and get put on first base because they suck at fielding and can't run. Sure, some are better than others, and Hernandez did amass himself a nice trophy case full of golden gloves, but it's not like he had stiff competition in that department.

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer 1Bs that average more than 9 HRs and 63 RBIs per year.

[GeoPoto]

"Ed Yost, averaged less than 50 strikeouts a season, averaged over 120 walks"

"Just looked up his stats and have to agree with Yost. Guy got on base."

This is what I am talking about! Welcome to the band wagon.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1671790897

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Nobody gets signed as a first baseman because of their glove. They get signed because of their bat and get put on first base because they suck at fielding and can't run. Sure, some are better than others, and Hernandez did amass himself a nice trophy case full of golden gloves, but it's not like he had stiff competition in that department.

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer 1Bs that average more than 9 HRs and 63 RBIs per year.

Yes, Keith Hernandez was no slugger. But let's not get carried away with downplaying his power. When you say he had 9 Hrs and 63 RBIs per year, you are including several "years" when he had few at bats, including when he was 20 years old and had 41 plate appearances. As a data scientist, I am surprised you would do this.

A more accurate look at his hitting might be to look at his OPS+ (128), or advanced metrics like rOBA or ISO. Keith fared pretty well in all of those.

He was an unconventional 1st Baseman, but he was valuable and helped his team win in many ways other than raw power.

On a separate note, we do both agree that Frank Robinson is criminally underrated from a card value perspective.