Dean's 2025 Overrated AL Players
A Blog By Dean
The other day, I was planning what I wanted to do this week for The Skippers View. I don’t want to do too many Red Sox blogs during the offseason, as I cover them heavily during the year.
I have been thinking about Adley Rutschman a lot. He is now 27 years old, and while is bWAR has been solid, his offensive numbers don’t jump off the page. The comparison I used in my tweet was Cal Raleigh. He is a catcher, who is just as good Adley and is talked about way less.
A better comparison would have been Jason Kendall. Kendall was younger when he broke into the league and would go on to produce 41.7 bWAR over his career. He also played catcher the entire time.
My doubts fall in Adley’s age, and how long he will play catcher on a full time basis. Baltimore’s top prospect is a 20 year old catcher, and the Orioles already know they have a problem on their hand and made sure Basallo got reps at 1B. Basallo has been great in the minors and is now the 13th ranked prospect in baseball. He is expected to be called up this year and I will not be surprised to see Adley start rotating between catcher, 1B, and DH. As a result, his WAR numbers that have been “solid” will drop.
Whatever. I think he is overrated/overhyped.
Long story short, Sam suggested I do an overrated player for each team. We knew it would drive conversation, but deep down I knew it would bring out the gremlins on X. It did exactly that. I am all for the hate, but the people who just feed off other accounts making content because they are too lazy to make their own is hilarious.
But, it was fun, so I added the thread I made onto this blog. Feel free to attack me. Anything in italics was added for the blog, the rest came right from my thread.
Baltimore Orioles
Adley Rutschman Raleigh Comp? The guy is good, but has he truly separated himself as elite? He’s praised like a top-3 catcher, but his actual impact isn’t much higher than a solid regular.
Boston Red Sox
Triston Casas Casas truthers act like he’s the next David Ortiz, but is he really much better than Jake Burger?
No surprise, most Red Sox accounts attacked me saying “LOL way to use Jake Burger, he is one of the most underrated players in the league.”
New York Yankees
Giancarlo Stanton Yankees fans thought he should have been carried by Christ himself into the Hall of Fame after the ALCS this year.
The Yankee fans came out of their holes to tell me that Stanton will DEFINETLY hit 600 home runs.
Tampa Bay Rays
Christopher Morel Morel is treated like a power-hitting difference-maker, but Oswaldo Cabrera gives you similar production with better defense.
Toronto Blue Jays
Bo Bichette Bichette’s defense is mid at best, and his on-base numbers don’t scream elite. The hype treats him like a top-tier SS, but he’s more Tommy Edman than Francisco Lindor.
Some Toronto fan that yells in his car with fake teeth really didn’t like this one. Honestly, I was trying to show bWAR comparisons and this was way closer than expected.
Chicago White Sox
Luis Robert Jr. Jason Heyward 2.0? All the talent in the world, but never quite puts it all together. Durability issues and inconsistent play keep him from being the star he's hyped to be.
White Sox fans don’t exist, so no one said a thing about this.
Cleveland Guardians
Bo Naylor Mitch Garver is better. People just thought it was cool that two brothers were on a team.
Bo Naylor is frankly bad, so no one said anything about this.
Detroit Tigers
Spencer Torkelson: For a No. 1 pick, Tork has been a disappointment. His numbers aren’t far off from Romy Gonzalez, yet he’s still treated like a future cornerstone. The power is there, but the rest?
Non Tigers fans laughed at this one saying no one thinks Torkelson is good. Actual Tigers fans had to look in the mirror and admit it was time to give up on the Spencer experiment.
Kansas City Royals
MJ Melendez Scooter Gennett had .73 WAR in a single game—Melendez put up a negative WAR across an entire career. That says it all. Royals fans need to stop waiting for a breakout that isn’t coming.
Again, most fans laughed at this and wondered why I would put such a bad player. I immediately sent them tweets of Royals fans talking about how this is MJ’s year.
Minnesota Twins
Byron Buxton Elite talent? Sure. But over the past four years, his WAR is barely above Daulton Varsho’s, and Varsho isn’t treated like a superstar. If he can’t stay on the field, is he really that valuable?
I knew Twins fans and people like Will would fly in for this one. All I was saying, is that since Daulton Varsho entered the league he has produced more than Byron Buxton. It is just a fact, live with it.
Houston Astros
Jeremy Peña "People said he was the second coming, and he's mid"- Overdue Sports.
Los Angeles Angels
Logan O’Hoppe: He’s fine, but why is he treated like the next great catcher? A .303 OBP in his first full season isn’t exactly screaming "future star."
Oakland Athletics
Luis Severino The A’s spending actual money on Severino is crazy. He’s basically Wade Miley (I put their stats since Severino debuted) but more expensive.
This was another one that got some hate. I was more just trying to show that Severino got a stupid contract. I don’t know, this probably was my biggest miss.
Seattle Mariners
Julio Rodríguez J-Rod is supposed to be the face of the league. He is putting up the same numbers that Lorenzo Cain did once he became a starter.
The first three years that Cain was a starter, he put up numbers in the ball park of Julio Rodriguez. Websites have been trying to crown Julio as a face of baseball for the last three years. All I was showing was that in terms of bWAR (WHICH WAS THE MAIN NUMBER I WAS COMPARING,) he is a slightly more valuable Lorenzo Cain.
Texas Rangers
Adolis García Clutch moments and big homers, but his sub-.320 OBP and high strikeout rate scream "boom or bust."
No one even blinked at this one.
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