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| TODAY: Monday, May 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player ratings: First base | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the ESPN.com player ratings. Our panel of baseball authorities will rank the top 10 players at each position. The basic question is this: Which player do you want at that position for the 2000 season?
For more about our panel, check the the catchers page. The numbers used in the chart below are explained at the bottom of the page.
Other positions: | C | DH | 2B | SS | 3B | LF | CF | RF | SP | CL
Position comments Rany Jazayerli: What can you say about Erubiel Durazo? No player in recent history has gone from complete obscurity to quality major league regular in the same year. It's hard to believe his numbers last year (.329, .422, .594) are for real, but consider that he hit .403 at Double-A El Paso. Dave Nilsson, who hit .418 for El Paso in 1991, is the only other minor leaguer to hit over .400 in the 1990s, but even Nilsson struggled when he was promoted to Triple-A. Durazo hit .407 in a midseason stop at Tucson. In short: he's the real deal. Underrated: John Olerud. No, he's not a real power hitter, and he looks way too relaxed to be a professional athlete. But that's his strength: he never tries to do too much, hitting the other way and taking ball four when given it; his .406 career OBP ranks eighth among active players. Overrated: Rico Brogna. I hate to pick on him, and he's a genuinely good fielder, but in his three seasons as the Phillies' starter, he's never posted an OPS over .800. His back-to-back 100 RBI seasons are the product of having Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu batting in front of him. Graham Hays: The shelf life of a top prospect is sometimes about as long as that of an open jar of mayonnaise on an August afternoon in Texas. But sometimes a prospect takes a little longer to reach the heights of stardom. Such is the story of Chicago's Paul Konerko, only 24 years old but two stops removed from his uber-prospect days with the Dodgers. He's neither an outstanding defensive first baseman nor a threat on the basepaths, but those traits can be overlooked in a first baseman if he can hit. Any lingering doubts about Konerko's ability to handle that aspect of the game are fading fast, thanks to the vast improved plate discipline (.352 OBP) he demonstrated in his AL debut.. Underrated: Kevin Young will never emerge as one of the top two or three at the position, but at 30 years old he provides consistent contributions across the board. Overrated: Todd Zeile. New York has found a perfect replacement for John Olerud; all he's lacking is Olerud's plate discipline and the great defense. Keith Law: Mr. Consistent? One wonders how huge Jeff Bagwell's star would be had he played in a hitter's park during the 1990s, instead of the cavernous Astrodome. Mark McGwire hits the glamorous homers, but Bagwell posted better OBPs in two of the past three years. The only thing keeping him from being the player of the '90s is his lack of defensive value relative to Barry Bonds. Underrated: Mike Sweeney barely gets any respect from the Royals' brass, but he posted an OPS over .900 last year and is a far superior alternative to the Paul Sorrentos of the world. Overrated: Why on earth would the Phillies subject themselves to another year of Rico Brogna when they have Pat Burrell waiting in the wings? David Schoenfield: Was it just a couple years ago that Tino Martinez finished second in the MVP voting? Indeed, Martinez had 44 home runs and a .577 slugging percentage in 1997. But his batting average, RBI total, OBP and slugging all dropped in both 1998 and 1999. With Nick "The Stick" Johnson waiting in the wings, this will be Tino's final year in the Bronx. Underrated: Jim Thome sometimes seems like the forgotten star in Cleveland, but he's been perhaps the key to Cleveland's success the past five years. His career OPS is .959, right below Jeff Bagwell's .961. Overrated: Mark Grace is a good player, but sometimes you wonder if the Cubs think he's a great player. In this day and age, it's hard to win without lots of power from first base and Grace has never driven in 100 runs or hit more than 17 home runs. Brandon Funston: Can Jason Giambi get any better? He's increased his home runs, RBI, batting average, and walks in each of his five major league seasons. A consummate hitter, who can go to all fields with power, Giambi posted 33 HR, 123 RBI, a .975 OPS and drew over 100 walks in '99. What can he do for an encore? If it's anything above and beyond last season, we're probably talking AL MVP. Underrated: First basemen are rarely underrated. If I had to choose one, I'd say Eric Karros. He's a steady 30-homer, 100-RBI guy who the Dodgers always seem to be dangling in trade talks. Despite such distractions, he plays a steady 150 games a year and continues to get the job done. Overrated: Todd Helton. Admittedly, a developing star. But, hey, the guy hit 113 points worse on the road last season and collected only 12 of his 35 home runs away from Coors Field. Now that's a discrepancy that is hard to blame on anything but that Rocky Mountain air. The numbers We've avoided most of the traditional numbers in favor of "sabermetric stats": Pts: Total points from our panel (10 for first, etc.) G: Games played OBP: On-base percentage SLG: Slugging percentage OPS: On-base + slugging RC: Runs created. Using all of a player's offensive statistics, tells how many "runs" a player was responsible for. Added together, individual runs created match closely with a team's overall run total. OW%: Offensive winning percentage. The percentage of games a team would "win" with nine of that player in the lineup, given average defense and pitching. |  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||