I’m going to list 5 players, along with a brief summary of each player’s MLB resume.  One of these guys doesn’t really belong in the same group as the others, based on their accomplishments and effectiveness as a player.  Let’s see if you can figure out which one I’m referring to.

• Wily Mo Pena – .253./307./.447 in 1,725 plate appearances.  Averages 150 Ks per 162 games.  Defensively, he is terrible.  Currently out of baseball at age 27.
• Daniel Cabrera – In his 6 year career, he has led the league in earned runs once, walks twice, wild pitches twice, and hit batsmen once.  He has been below average in every season.  Currently has a 14.40 ERA in AAA.
• Elijah Dukes – Hitting .233/.292/.388 this year.  After the Nationals acquired Dukes, they felt the need to hire an ex-cop for a new job within the organization titled “Special Assistant: Player Concerns”.  That person’s sole function is to follow Dukes around and prevent him from getting himself arrested.
• J.D. Drew – An All-Star right fielder with a career .282/.391/.500 line in 4,357 plate appearances.  His career OPS+ is 128, 1 point below that of Carl Yastrzemski.  Along with his offensive skills, he’s one of the best defensive right fielders in the league (14.5 UZR/150 this season). Has played in 107 games this year, the 5th most on the Red Sox roster.
• Mike MacDougal – A reliever who, while effective, averages 32 innings pitched per season.  Walks nearly 5 hitters per 9 innings.

Okay, I think we can agree that one player sort of stands out from the rest.  Why did I just list those 5 players?  According to a recent SI poll of 380 current Major League Baseball players, here are the top 5 biggest underachievers in the game:

1. Wily Mo Pena
2. Daniel Cabrera
3. Elijah Dukes
4. J.D. Drew
5. Mike MacDougal

So, given J.D. Drew’s performance throughout his career, this group is basically saying he’s an underachiever for not being the next Roberto Clemente.  They are critiquing him for being a very good player, instead of blossoming into an inner circle Hall of Famer.  Man, talk about high expectations.

To be fair, this is the same group of people who brought us Derek Jeter’s Gold Glove in a year in which his UZR was double digit negative, and Raffy Palmeiro’s 1B Gold Glove after he played about one fifth of the season at that position.  Sometimes, the players are the quickest to get hoodwinked by the idiotic groupthink, the Flavor-Aid mentality.  That’s what we’re seeing here.  It’s not really their fault; they can only watch 1 game on a typical night (the one they happen to be playing in).  So, when they hear morons in radio and print repeating the tired “J.D. Drew is lazy/heartless/whatever” mantra, what else are they supposed to believe if they don’t actually see his contributions to the field?

No Responses to “Which One Of These Is Not Like The Others?”

1. Mike says:

   8/25/2009 at 2:58 pm

   The dude’s career OBP is .391. Amazing. He just doesn’t smile enough, I guess.