3 Most Underrated Players At Each Position — Starting Pitcher
No, Jacob deGrom will not be on this list. However, deGrom is a well renowned starting pitcher and you would have to be living under a rock to have never heard of him. For the 3 guys that will be on this list, that isn’t necessarily the case. Are they good? Yes. Are they well known? Maybe, but not to the level of an ace. Should they be known? Definitely. Today starts the new series I will be putting out over the next few weeks highlighting the 3 most underrated players at each position. This series will be opinion based, stats based, and national recognition based. Kicking off today’s list will be…
3. Freddy Peralta
The man that gets the honor of being our first player highlighted in this series is none other than Brewers SP3 Freddy Peralta. The reason he is 3 on this list and not higher is only due to the fact that the Brewers have made the playoffs the past 2 years and he’s pitched well when called upon in October, even holding the eventual 2021 World Series champion Braves scoreless over 4 innings in the NLDS. The 25 year old pitcher is often overlooked due to having 2 legitimate aces ahead of him in the rotation, but to this point in his career he has shown that he could be the 2 on any other team or the ace on a good handful of teams.
Having a career ERA of 4.03 over 344 innings and 100 appearances (52 starts) doesn’t look great on the surface, but he is coming off a year in which he put up an ERA of 2.81 over 144.1 innings and 27 starts with 195 strikeouts and a 150 ERA+. Peralta carries a career K/9 of 12.1 which rivals any top hurler, and he limits homeruns as his career HR/9 is 1.0. He’s off to a slow start this year, but you can expect him to turn it around soon and get back to putting up ace level numbers in the middle of the Brewers stacked rotation.
2. Dylan Cease
Next on the list is another guy that has been overshadowed for most of his career. Pitching behind the likes of Lucas Giolito, Carlos Rodon, Lance Lynn, and Dallas Keuchel, Dylan Cease often flies under the radar. Currently, due to injuries to Giolito and Lynn, he’s being tasked with being the ace of the White Sox staff and he is showing that he is more than capable of handling that role.
Currently holding a career ERA of 4.30 over 307.2 innings and 60 starts, Cease has improved at limiting hits every season that he’s been in the Majors. Debuting at 23 in 2019, he put up a H/9 of 9.6, in 2020 it improved to 7.7, 2021 it was 7.6, and in the small sample size so far this season, it’s down to 4.2. The 4.2 is not sustainable over the long haul, however, it still could stay lower than the 7.6 he put up last year. Also in 2021, he put up an ERA of 3.91 over 165.2 innings and led the AL in K/9 with 12.3. Expect more improvement from Cease again this year, and more national recognition for this currently overlooked pitcher.
1. Chris Bassitt
For this guy it’s more of a circumstance of being on a small market team that does nothing in the way of spending money to help their team improve and compete for the playoffs, until this year. Chris Bassitt is currently enjoying his first season on an actual (on paper) playoff contender in the New York Mets after spending 6 of his first 7 years in the Bigs with the Oakland A’s. Bassitt has always been a top level arm as evidenced by his 3.44 ERA over 526 innings and 100 games (88 starts) with the A’s. He’s off to a torrid start with his new club as through 2 starts he’s pitched to a .75 ERA over 2 starts and 12 innings of work. Unfortunately for Bassitt, he went from being overshadowed because of the market and team’s unwillingness to be succesful to being overshadowed by 2 of the best pitchers the sport has ever seen in deGrom and Max Scherzer.
With walk rates and homerun rates that are better than league average, and a strikeout rate that has improved over the last couple of years, Bassitt’s run of success doesn’t look to be over any time soon. Being the SP3 on a stacked team should also take pressure off of him to perform and he could even be a real contender for the Cy Young award as early as this year. Whatever the case, this will be the last year that Bassitt’s name will end up on a list like this.
There you have it. 3 guys that are often overlooked because they aren’t the big name ace on their club or have been overlooked because of the team that they played for. Keep an eye on these guys going forward, and let me know on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 who you think are some of the game’s underrated starting pitchers. Next up in the series will be catchers!
