January 21, 201115 yr What about a guy like Mat Latos getting the underrated tag? He was a phenomenal pitcher in 2010. Is he under rated or unknown? Do people know about him or is he flying under the radar? I watched a lot of Padres games because he was a joy to watch pitch. I'd ask the same question about Carlos Santana, he was having a phenomenal year behind the plate after he got called up and then he got his knee blown out on a play at the plate.
January 21, 201115 yr QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:54 PM) What about a guy like Mat Latos getting the underrated tag? He was a phenomenal pitcher in 2010. Is he under rated or unknown? Do people know about him or is he flying under the radar? I watched a lot of Padres games because he was a joy to watch pitch. I'd ask the same question about Carlos Santana, he was having a phenomenal year behind the plate after he got called up and then he got his knee blown out on a play at the plate. well if you were going to point out ESPN's coverage over JJ, then I'll point it out about Latos, they and MLBN gave him a ton of pub last year Edited January 21, 201115 yr by SoxFan562004
January 22, 201115 yr QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 05:57 PM) well if you were going to point out ESPN's coverage over JJ, then I'll point it out about Latos, they and MLBN gave him a ton of pub last year I know I saw Harold Reynolds stroking Latos's work on MLBN but I don't remember seeing much on ESPN.. I didn't even know they covered the Western divisions of baseball!
January 22, 201115 yr QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 06:04 PM) I know I saw Harold Reynolds stroking Latos's work on MLBN but I don't remember seeing much on ESPN.. I didn't even know they covered the Western divisions of baseball! haha, I'm not a huge ESPN fan either, but they did give Latos a lot of credit in 2010.
January 22, 201115 yr QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 06:07 PM) haha, I'm not a huge ESPN fan either, but they did give Latos a lot of credit in 2010. I actually like ESPN generally, but I wish they'd spread their coverage out more. They're great with the AL and NL East, pretty solid with the Central divisions, but they really fall off with the West in baseball and football. I believe you that they covered Latos, I just must not have seen it. I'd go as far as to say that the Padres rotation will be underrated going into this season. Latos, Richard, Stauffer, Luebke and LeBlanc should hold it down pretty well, especially in Petco.
January 22, 201115 yr The guy that immediately popped into my head was a player Starks mentioned, Andrew McCutchen. In a down year offensively around the league and the year where he was supposed to have a sophomore slump, he put up .286/.365/.449/.814. He walked about the same amount and cut his strikeout rate from 16.8% to 13.6%; that may not seem like much, but the result was 6 more strikeouts last year in 160 more plate appearances. That is development you love to see. If Pittsburgh is ever going to field a competitive baseball team again, he's going to be a part of it. Another guy that had an underrated year, though the average may fall next year, is Rickie Weeks. He still strikes out an inordinate amount, but that type of power/speed/discipline combo is always nice to have (even though he didn't run much last year). I'm also not sure if Billy Butler gets the love he deserves. If he can ever turn a few more of those doubles into home runs, there are going to be people who confuse him with Mike Sweeney.
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