A couple of week’s back I posted a Top 10 list on MLB Players that We Forgot Were Good and months ago I posted on my Facebook my Top 10 Underrated Players of All Time. So I thought about this and it took me a while to think about but I mean not every great baseball player is as great as everyone thinks he is. Guys like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ted Williams were literally great and we always find a way to say how they are the greatest baseball players of all time. But then we have the ones that people say are the best but in actuality they aren’t and instead they are what I like to call Overrated. This week’s Top 10 will specifically be about some of the most overrated baseball players of all time. Now in order to say that these players are overrated I needed to see how long their careers were and their stats during their time of playing and while accolades and awards might be great for any player’s career I will be looking into how they benefited during or after that award winning season. Also if they signed a very pricey contract and their careers went nowhere because of it will also be in effect for this list. Some of this will be opinionated; others will be actual cold hard facts. Now I’m not saying these players are bad but my argument is that they aren’t as good as everyone thinks they are. Comment below who you think the most overrated baseball player of all time is and let’s start the countdown of the Top 10 Overrated MLB Players of All Time.
Top 10 Overrated MLB Players of All Time
10. David Price (2008 - ) – David Price is a great pitcher, there is no argument there, but he isn’t as great as everyone says he is. David Price started his career in the major leagues in 2008 as a relief pitcher but would become a full time starter in 2009. His first three full seasons were kind of rocky as he had one really great season in 2010 when he went 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 208.2 innings pitched. However he came 2nd in the Cy Young voting, losing to Felix Hernandez who went 13-12 with a 2.27 ERA and 232 strikeouts in over 245 innings pitched. David Price would win the award however in 2012 but barely. David Price who went 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA and 205 strikeouts in 211 innings pitched barely beat Justin Verlander who went 17-8 with a 2.64 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 238.1 innings pitched. Price beat Verlander by 5 votes that year. However the next season Price only went 10-8 and also got injured so he was only able to start 27 games. The problem with Price is he can’t stay consistent. Some seasons he pitches well, other seasons he pitches kind of okay. The man has been an ace for three different teams and yet he couldn’t be the top pitcher during that season. David Price played for the Rays, Tigers, Blue Jays, Red Sox and currently he is under contract with the Dodgers. He was the ace for the Rays and was the best pitcher for the team during that time, but I mean it’s the Rays they didn’t have so many great starting pitchers. Then once he joined the Tigers he wasn’t even the best pitcher on the team as he was sharing that position with Justin Verlander. Then when he joined the Blue Jays he helped lead them into the playoffs but I mean they had R.A Dickey and Mark Buehrle leading the way all season before Price was traded onto the team. Finally during his time with the Red Sox he was overshadowed by the 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello and then Chris Sale. David Price averages a 14-12 record with a 4.40 ERA and 150 strikeouts. MLB.com had this man in 8th for Top 10 starting pitchers of the 2010’s, and he was in front of 2 time Cy Young award winner Jacob deGrom, former Red Sox and current Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester and currently retired starting pitcher C.C Sabathia. I don’t know about you but to average a .556 winning percentage and an over 4 ERA is not top 10 in my opinion. David Price’s career overshadows many better starting pitchers and let me not forget to say this but this man in 2016 with the Red Sox signed a 7 year deal worth $217 million. David Price is overrated for sure and his overall stats and never being a consistent starting pitcher is why he is the most overrated pitcher of the 2010’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY5DqWEgCvM
9. Ozzie Smith (1978 – 1996) – Many baseball fans consider Ozzie Smith as one of the best Shortstops of all time and I can understand why. The man has 13 career Gold Gloves and is a 15 time All-Star. They nicknamed him The Wizard because his defense was on another level. However while he might be one of the greatest of all time at the position, he is unfortunately ranked a bit high. Smith is mostly known for his defensive skills and that is pretty much it. People really don’t talk about anything else in his career except for the fact that he is a magician in the field. Ozzie Smith is not a great hitter as in his 19 year career he had a lifetime batting average of .262 and it took him to his 8th season in his career to even hit above that number. Now while he did lack hitting he somehow managed to have over 2,400 career hits. Now on paper that is a pretty impressive thing to be able to do, but he also only hit the average 150 hits a season 7 out of the 19 times of his career. Another reason why I believe he is overrated is the fact that Smith had a lifetime on base percentage of .337, which is pretty average number. A lot of great names have hit barely above that number at .340 in their career as guys like Dave Parker (.339), Adrian Beltre (.339) and Don Crammer (.340) all had pretty low career on base percentages but yet 2 of the 3 didn’t manage to make it into the Hall of Fame even though they had great numbers. Beltre recently retired so he can still make it into the Hall of Fame. For Ozzie Smith to have a very average on base percentage and low career batting average and yet still makes the Hall of Fame is kind of hypocritical considering he is only in it because of his .978 fielding percentage and 13 Gold Gloves. And many people say Cal Ripken Jr. and Derek Jeter are overrated but yet they helped make the position more recognizable as threats in the lineup. Ozzie Smith however didn’t and in many ways is overrated. Now I’m not saying he is bad, I just don’t think he is as good as many people say he is. He definitely in the top 10 but in the bottom part of the list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJPyQfcWfCA
8. Roger Maris (1957 – 1968) – In 1961 Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s record of single season homeruns (60) as Maris would hit 61 homeruns that season and would win the MVP award by 3 votes against his fellow teammate Mickey Mantle. Maris from that day has been well known by many baseball fans as the man who beat Babe Ruth and is the homerun king but that’s literally just a modern day joke as while Maris hit 61 homeruns, he never ever hit higher than 35 homeruns after that season. In fact in his career Roger Maris hit 275 career homeruns in his 12 year career. Meaning that during that one season he hit almost 20% of his career homeruns. Roger Maris is known for this record, a record that would be broken by three players that were plagued with being steroid users and only 5 players in all of baseball history would hit 60 homeruns and it has never been done again since Barry Bonds in 2001. But for Maris to be on that list of power hitters is kind of a head scratcher considering Maris was never known as a power hitter until he joined the Yankees and after the 1961 season he kind of start to fall and downgrade as injuries would plague his career and his power numbers would decrease each year. While he may be remembered as the guy who took the record away from an all time great, that’s pretty much it and in all honesty he is kind of overrated. There have been many sluggers to reach 50 homeruns in a season, a handful that almost grasped 60, but for Maris to do so in one year and never again hit anywhere close to that number is pretty shocking. And yet people praise of how great of a power hitter and baseball player he was. In reality they only say that because of his 1961 season as for many people they forget that the .260 lifetime batting average exists or the fact that he was never a good balanced hitter. He might of gotten lucky in the 1961 season but he sure as hell isn’t as great as many people say he is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4cE3TzSWsI
7. Manny Machado (2012 - ) – This one is mostly an opinion but it is also a fact in the baseball community but Manny Machado is the most overrated player currently in baseball, at least active players in the major leagues. Now Manny Machado is a pretty good player as he placed top 10 in the MVP ballot 4 times in his career and he just turned 28 this year so he has many more years in the league. But the problem with Manny is the fact that he isn’t a consistent hitter, he is pretty dirty on the field and he can be a bit cocky. Manny Machado at this moment has a lifetime batting average of .280 with over 1,200 career hits, 223 career homeruns, 645 career runs batted in and an on base percentage of .337. He’s a pretty average hitter and defensively he is pretty great. Not the best at the position though as Nolan Arenaldo is kind of the top guy in 3rd base but many former baseball players and fans rank Machado 2nd, which is kind of high if you ask me. Manny Machado might be a pretty great defensive player who can swing the bat pretty well but he also lacks being a leading man on the field. In 2019 Manny Machado signed a $300 million, 10 year deal, which is pretty high and not worth it considering he has never won an MVP award and his stats are not even close to worth 300 let alone 200 million dollars. Josh Donaldson won the MVP award in 2015, a season where Manny Machado came in 4th, but he never signed a contract worth more than 100 million dollars. Josh Donaldson is not a better player defensively and offensively but he is a pure great 3rd baseman that is a balanced hitter and defender. Manny Machado also has never also been higher in the MVP ballot than Donaldson which proves my point that Donaldson is a better player than Machado. But the fact that a balanced hitter/defender like Donaldson doesn’t get huge contracts like Machado also proves my point on why Machado is overrated. Usually great hitters or pitchers that win MVP/Cy Young awards or play well consistently get huge contracts and Machado is the odd man out of a handful of recent names to get huge contracts. Again Machado is only 28 years old so he can change overtime and maybe people will see him as a rated player but only time will tell as he is in the prime of his career now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAM7QDgDpA
6. Jose Canseco (1985 – 2001) – Jose Canseco played during the time of the Steroid Era, an Era where not every player but a handful of players used steroids and performance and enhancing drugs. When guys like Greg Maddux, Ken Griffey Jr., Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Roberto Alomar were making a name for themselves, Jose Canseco was doing the same thing but with steroids. Taking one good look at the man today and during his time of playing and yeah even you will say this man took steroids and in 2005 he wrote a book about it admitting that he did. So for 17 years the man that hit 462 homeruns would be considered one of the best power hitters of all time and as you know he isn’t, far from it if you ask me. If you have to cheat to hit 462 homeruns in your career then yeah you are defiantly overrated. Not only did he take steroids for most of his career, he injected it to many of his teammates including Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire, but don’t worry you will be hearing that name soon. Canseco’s career is plagued with cheating and out of all the names that played during this era to be overshadowed by Canseco then yeah consider this your time to shine. Guys like Kirby Puckett or Will Clark were becoming household names from when Canseco was a top tier baseball player and yet there names aren’t as memorable as this overrated cheater. Now many players that are great have cheated overtime. Guys like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez are some of those names but they were using steroids way later into their career, allegedly. But unlike them they actually were good in their career and even when Canseco was cheating and using steroids, he wasn’t good. He has a lifetime average of .262, he wasn’t a good contact hitter but that’s because he was mashing homeruns like it was a contest, his fielding was okay but then again he would DH mostly in the 2nd half of his career and well I mean the man cheated and admitted to it so yeah I guess you can say he knows he was wrong. Either way he is overrated but hey at least one good thing came out of it, a book of everything he did. It’s available on Amazon if you want to buy and read it and let me tell you its pretty Juicy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGv98U6iAY
5. Josh Hamilton (2007 – 2015) – Back in the late 2000’s to early 2010’s Josh Hamilton was the talk of the town. Before Mike Trout and Bryce Harper were the most talked about outfielder, Josh Hamilton was that name that was in the conversation as the best player during his time of being an active player. However Hamilton dealt with a rollercoaster career and it doesn’t help that is career was plagued with either injures or drug problems. Early on in his minor league career Hamilton had a drug and drinking problem. He would use cocaine a lot and because of it he was suspended for multiple seasons. He went into rehab and found help and finally made his debut in the big leagues in 2007 with the Cincinnati Reds. However his career sky rocked in front of our eyes the next year as a member of the Texas Rangers as Josh went off. He is well known for hitting in the 2008 Home Run Derby where he crushed 28 homeruns in just the first round, but somehow lost to the eventual winner Justin Morneau. Regardless Hamilton’s name was going places as he finished the 2008 season with a league leading 130 runs batted in, 32 homeruns and batting .304, coming in 7th place for the MVP. The next season Josh was voted into the All-Star game again but he was injured and only played in 89 games that year. The next season Josh Hamilton won the AL MVP Award and made it into the World Series. He got injured in the middle of the season but still managed to lead the league in Batting Average with .359, while hitting 32 homeruns and 100 runs batted in. The next two seasons were once again a rollercoaster for Hamilton as in 2011 he got injured and missed a month but still managed to make the All-Star team and in 2012 he hit a career high 43 homeruns and placed 5th in the MVP voting. After that season he signed a big 5 year deal worth $125 million with the Los Angeles Angels and from there his career fell and he became the most hated player on the planet, well in L.A of course. He underperformed the next two years hitting below .275 each year and his power would decline as well. Injures would bother him but it was the beginning of the end of Josh Hamilton. I don’t think Josh Hamilton is a bad player but I believe he has been overlooked a lot in his career. He has one of the worst contracts in baseball history, he dealt with personal issues throughout his baseball career and he also was hit with the injury bug way too many times. For him to be called the best and be voted in the All-Star game while having a bad season is kind of shocking considering there were better players that deserved to be in his spot. Was he at one point great, yes and no to be honest. Hamilton was a good player but he wasn’t the greatest, far from it. Hamilton was a good player that if he was healthy he will go off and had his career been a lot different back in the times where he was heavy with drugs and suspended he might have been in the conversation of greatest of all time and his career could of lasted a bit longer than it did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4l1L11zM9E
4. Chris Davis (2008 - ) – I mentioned earlier that I’m putting worst contracts of all time in effect on this list and I mean Chris Davis tops it off with that. Chris Davis started his career with the Texas Rangers back in 2008 and he actually showed some great stuff. He hit .285 and had 17 homeruns in 80 games played. The next year the average fell down to .238 but he still managed to hit 21 homeruns. From 2010 – 2011 his power and hitting declined and he wasn’t the same player. That was until he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles and in 2012 Chris Davis began to make a name for himself. He hit 33 homeruns and had a batting average of .276. The 2013 season though would be his greatest season of his career. He hit .286 while leading the major league in homeruns with 53 and runs batted in with 138. He also made his only All-Star team and won the Silver Slugger but came in 3rd place for MVP voting. The next year his batting average and power went drastically down as he only hit 26 homeruns while batting .196. He had a better 2015 season where he launched 47 homeruns and batted .262. Then in 2016 he signed a huge contract extension with the Orioles. He signed a 7 year deal worth $161 million. Here where the fun part begins as the next three years his career began to decline as his numbers would continue to fall and his career was beginning to feel like a joke. In 2019 Davis started the year 0 for 54 as it took him 2 plus weeks to finally get his first hit in the season. This was a man three years earlier who signed a $161 million dollar deal because he was seen as one of the best in the league. Davis is currently still on the Orioles but barely played in the 2020 season. The problem with Davis is simple, he sucks. Well he sucks now but back then he was okay. He can hit homeruns with no problem and he was pretty decent on the field but he defiantly doesn’t deserve $161 million if he going to bat .220 or below each year. Davis was never a great hitter. He struck out a lot in his career because he not a good contact hitter and he known for mostly his power. Yet he always was one of the top 1st Basemen in the league during 2012 – 2017. The man couldn’t hit a ball with his eyes closed if he had too and if I had to choose a blind paraplegic one armed batter or Chris Davis to get a hit I will be taking my chances with the one armed blind man who can’t walk, that’s how bad and overrated Chris Davis is. It’s a shame really because he was at one point really good but it could of just been luck if you ask me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zurwRZXeEfw
3. Nolan Ryan (1966 – 1993) – Nolan Ryan played in four different decades and is the All Time leader in No Hitters (7) and Strikeouts (5,714) and this is just the 2 out of the 51 major league records he holds. However while Nolan Ryan is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time, he never won a Cy Young award in his career and he is said to be overrated. Yes I said it loud and clear and many people have said it online but Nolan Ryan is “Overrated”. Here is the thing while Nolan Ryan might be the only pitcher to throw 5,000 strikeouts, he however is only known for throwing massive amount of strikeouts and having 7 no hitters throughout his incredible 27 years. Now Nolan Ryan is defiantly still a top 10 starting pitcher but there are other starting pitchers that have had better careers when it comes to statistics. First of all Nolan Ryan’s winning percentage is pretty average for 27 years in the majors. With a .526 winning percentage (324 – 292), his winning percentage is lower than many pitchers in modern day baseball. Bret Blyleven also has a pretty average winning percentage of .534 (287 – 250) but here the thing Nolan Ryan was selected in his first year in the ballot for the Hall of Fame, Bret Blyleven made it in his 14th year in the ballot. I’m not trying to compare the two because of when they got elected in cause Nolan Ryan is a pretty bigger name than Blyleven but the fact that a guy with a very low winning percentage can get a first ballot Hall of Fame and a guy who slightly did better winning percentage wise did not is pretty crazy. Now comparing winning percentages doesn’t really tell how great a pitcher is so ill also mention that Nolan Ryan has the record for all time career walks with 2,795 walks. Why is that a big deal well considering that he is the greatest pitcher of all time maybe I can see how other great pitchers like him fair with this stat. These next few pitchers have slightly lower walks and are considered greatest pitchers of all time, Steve Carlton (1,833), Randy Johnson (1,497), Warren Spahn (1,434), Tom Seaver (1,390) and Bob Gibson (1,336). The fact that Nolan Ryan is considered better than these 5 men are pretty insane considering all five men have way higher winning percentages and less walks than Nolan Ryan. Look I can compare stats all day but in the end of the day Nolan Ryan is a good pitcher that is massively overrated and I don’t think anyone can go against my argument here by saying that he is not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCjULQxO7Rc
2. Darryl Strawberry (1983 – 1999) – The 80’s to early 90’s was where Darryl Strawberry made a name for himself. He was voted into the All-Star game 8 straight times form 1984 – 1991 and he was a big power hitter and many compared him to former big league slugger and at the time the current all time homerun leader Hank Aaron. Now In his first 8 seasons with the New York Mets Strawberry hit 252 homeruns and was one of the top outfielders. Strawberry had all this limitless potential and then once 1991 hit it all seemed to decline for the former All-Star rightfielder. Soon after the 91 season Strawberry would deal with personal problems and severe injuries. He was suspended in 1995 for the use of cocaine and in 1996 he was dealing with personal problems at home with child support payments. Now while this doesn’t make the reason why he is overrated so I’m going to be talking more about during his time when he was showing his full potential because even though he was this big power hitter, he wasn’t anything special after that. Strawberry was trouble in the clubhouse and he had a big temper. Strawberry was a decent player, at least for the most part he was good enough to have on a team, but he wasn’t as great as everyone said he was back in the 1980’s. He still to this day gets a high praise of hype and it’s pretty insane how high he is praised because Strawberry didn’t suck, he just isn’t that good. I mean the 90’s, with an exception of 1998, Strawberry couldn’t stay healthy or out of trouble outside of baseball and it showed in his playing ability. Had Strawberry been a better person outside of the sport and didn’t get as injured as much then maybe we could had seen a better player. But he was an average hitting batter and fielding was decent but as a whole he just wasn’t as great as everyone says he was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6mhp5ihZrM
1. Mark McGwire (1986 – 2001) – You know the name because of the Bash Brothers, you know the name because of the 98 season and you know the name because of the Mitchell Report. Mark McGwire is the most overrated baseball player of all time and going into making this list I flat out said he was my number one pick and I asked many other people who is the most overrated player of all time and he was the first name out of almost every other person’s mouth. Mark McGwire was never a good average hitter, nor was he anything special on the field. The only reason why this man was so big and great was for his power, kind of. In 2010 McGwire admitted to using steroids throughout his career and while it was announced back in the 2006 Mitchell Report, many people already knew about his use of steroids and that he cheated. There is a reason why I can give Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds the benefit of a doubt and continue to say how great they were because even without steroids they were some big hitters in the lineup. For Mark McGwire however he was really just a power hitter that’s pretty much it. He sucked at contact hitting, his batting average was below .275 for half of his career and he only had 1,626 career base hits in just 16 years and considering he had over 6,100 at bats you would think he would hit a bit more better. McGwire has been called one of the greatest sluggers of all time and I honestly would put a star next to his name because once again he cheated. I feel like a broken record with this and I hate this say this about him but I mean he sucked, looking at his stats minus the homeruns and slugging percentage, he sucks. Not to mention his career was tarnished with steroid use and he said in an interview that some seasons he used steroids for injuries but even without them he sucked. McGwire had the potential to be an all time great and while his name is shined and praised for the 98 season, there is nothing really special about this man and he is extremely overrated. I hate to put down a baseball player, but most of all a person, but I mean he had it coming. I might have been extremely tough on Chris Davis but I mean at least he didn’t cheat in his career. No offense to Mark McGwire as a person, I’m just stating the cold hard facts and that is HE IS OVERRRATED! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOst8YXuoHc
Honorable Mentions:
Jason Varitek (1997 – 2011) – Varitek is a long time Boston Red Sox and became The Captain of the team after the 2004 season. However while many Red Sox fans call this man one of the best catchers ever, he kind of sucks. In fact of the last 100 years the last 4 captains of the team were Varitek, and hall of famers Jimmie Foxx, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice. Why is that a big reason why Varietk is overrated, well he was a below average hitter who was compared to greats in the league at the time like Jorge Posada, Ivan Rodriguez and Joe Mauer. Plus he obtained no votes for the Hall of Fame and yet Red Sox fans still praise of how great he was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtiDdue7TBk
Rafael Palmeiro (1986 – 2005) – Much like Mark McGwire, Palmeiro cheated and used steroids throughout his long 20 year career. But he was called one of the best hitters of his time during the 90’s and I hate to say it but he wasn’t that great. Other than having a few .300b batting average in his career, Palmeiro is a .288 career hitter, which isn’t a bad thing but then again this was mainly because he started to show his true playing abilities after the 90’s and steroids was still involved but he also started to show how not so great he really was. Plus I mean he never played for a winning team in his time of playing so I guess he couldn’t be that good considering he couldn’t get a Title for any team he was on.
Yoenis Cespedes (2012 - ) – I hate to say it but whoever is riding the Yoenis Cespedes bandwagon should probably get off the next stop cause the man isn’t all that like many scouts said he was. He had his best years in his first few seasons and kind of fell off. He might have a great arm and a hell of a swing but the man can’t stay healthy enough to be worth $75 million and yet he missed 2 seasons from injuries or not playing cause of covid and played on a team that was owned by morons. Yes he was a Met for the last 5 years and it shows because he sure played like a true Met signing, great the first year and bad the rest. Sorry Met fans but you know it’s true. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9TtqiH3iDY
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