"Inside the American League" had its fleet of scouts scouring the televisions on Tuesday night in the endless pursuit of baseball knowledge when Boston Red Sox second baseman Mark Bellhorn hit a game winning double. Bellhorn has been underappreciated this season, and it made "Inside the AL" wonder, who are the other Mark Bellhorns of the league in 2004?
The shortstop who certainly stands out the most is Detroit Tiger Carlos Guillen. Carlos had been the shortstop for the Seattle Mariners in past years, and while he wasn't Neifi Perez-bad, he wasn't exactly lighting it up either. Now, all of a sudden, Guillen is batting .318 with 20 home runs and 97 RBIs. That's good enough for a .921 OPS. Guillen is solid defensively as well. He's done for the year with a knee injury, but he had a career season.
At first base, the one player who stands out is Oakland Athletic Scott Hatteberg. As everyone who read "Moneyball" knows, Billy Beane is in love with the guy. This year, Hatty has really proved his worth, getting on base at a .383 clip. The "pickin' machine" has also provided a little pop, posting 15 home runs and a .445 slugging percentage.
Chicago White Sox second baseman Juan Uribe has had a surprisingly productive this year as well. This was a nice pickup by Chicago general manager Kenny Williams, something that happens about as often as George W. Bush telling the truth to the American people. Uribe, at only 25 years old, provides nice defense and has a solid .810 OPS.
Sure, we already mentioned Bellhorn, but let's expound, shall we? Bellhorn has made Boston general manager Theo Epstein look like a genius once again. He has an OPS of .820 and a number of defensive metrics show him to have above average range at second base. In addition, he can play a decent third and pretty much any other position, except pitcher and catcher, in an emergency.
Baltimore Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora has gone from a .230 hitter two years ago to batting .329 in 2003 and .338 so far in 2004. Melvin's kind of old (32) to be breaking out at this point in his career, but Baltimore certainly won't protest. Mora is a legitimate MVP candidate with an OPS of almost 1.000 as hard proof.
Cleveland Indians third baseman Casey Blake has also had a fine year at the hot corner. Blake is another one of those older players (31) putting it together at the right time. How are some of these guys having breakout years so late? Steroids? Well, "Inside the AL" has more class than to allege that - Steroids? Well let's not jump to - Steroids?
There really isn't anyone at catcher worth mentioning. Sure, Indians catcher Victor Martinez has been fantastic, but that was sort of expected if you were privileged enough to read "Inside the AL" in '03. So let's move on.
There might not be a more underappreciated player in the AL this year than White Sox center fielder Aaron Rowand. Rowand has a .927 OPS, and he plays fantastic defense.
Speaking of center fielders, Oakland's Mark Kotsay has had a very nice year. Billy Beane made one of his signature moves by jettisoning Terrence Long in the off-season and replacing him with Kotsay. Long was one of those players who's just really hard to like - Big salary, terrible numbers, and yet he still managed to complain about playing time in '03. Meanwhile, Kotsay has an OPS of .810 and has been superb defensively.
As for the pitchers, Texas Ranger Ryan Drese (3.80 ERA), Indian Jake Westbrook (3.33 ERA), and Red Sox Bronson Arroyo (4.01 ERA) have all put up great numbers in '04 when not much was expected from them.
You will no doubt be seeing many of these guys in the playoffs, where hopefully they will get more notoriety than they have thus far in '04.
