Top 5 most overrated hitters in MLB history
Hitting in the MLB is hard. Oftentimes, players who make strides and have a big impact on their team's success are overlooked, while players who come with a lot of hype and promise do not live up to the talk.
Sometimes those who are dubbed the best in the game end up not very good at all. Here are the top five most overrated hitters in MLB history.
Top 5 overrated players in MLB history
#5 Jim Ray Hart
Like a lot of players, the magic Jim Ray Hart showed as a rookie fizzled out and died. Hart signed with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent in 1960. His 31 home runs and 81 RBIs in 1963 earned him a runner-up spot in the Rookie of the Year Award voting that year.
Jim Ray Hart hit 13 homers as a DH with the Yanks and ended his career in the Bronx in 1974. https://t.co/yonVSc102B
"Jim Ray Hart hit 13 homers as a DH with the Yanks and ended his career in the Bronx in 1974." - @ 70sYankees
Unfortunately, his success dried up and he slowly declined, hitting only 17 home runs in four years between 1969 and 1973. Eventually, the San Francisco Giants sold his contract to the New York Yankees in 1973 where he played his last season in 1974, batting only .053.
#4 Benito Santiago
Benito Santiago is another outstanding rookie who just never could repeat the success of his first season. As a 21-year-old in 1986, the young Puerto Rican hit .300 with 18 home runs and 79 RBIs with the San Diego Padres. He won the 1986 Rookie of the Year Award after securing a 34-game hit streak that season, still a record among MLB rookies.
It has come to my attention that lamentably some people do not know who Benito Santiago is & it is my duty to correct this error in our public education system and/or parents neglecting to teach basic common knowledge. #Marlins https://t.co/Df7NHUxE2n
"It has come to my attention that lamentably some people do not know who Benito Santiago is & it is my duty to correct this error in our public education system and/or parents neglecting to teach basic common knowledge." - @ Marlins Historian
Santiago would never hit .300 again in his entire career, and despite being an All-Star in the first five seasons of his MLB career, he would play until 2005, eventually retiring as a forgotten journeyman.
#3 Robinson Cano
Robinson Cano makes us wonder why he is still playing. When the young Dominican first came on to the scene in 2005 with the New York Yankees, he finished as the runner-up in the Rookie of the Year Award voting. That year, Cano hit 14 home runs and 62 RBIs.
Cano would continue his success with the Seattle Mariners before testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2018, for which he was suspended by the MLB for 80 games. Although you would think this lesson would be enough, it was not. Cano tested positive again three years later, resulting in a suspension that lasted for the entire 2021 season.
#2 Pete Rose
Just because a player is overrated does not mean they are bad. This is true of nobody more than Cincinnati Reds Pete Rose. Rose was a good player. He has the MLB record for hits, games, at-bats, and singles. The only problem is, he played for an eternity.
Pete Rose played in the MLB for 24 years, and while he led the league in stats for many of those years, Rose also had some pretty subpar years. For example, Rose batted .245 and did not hit a single home run in the full season of 1983 — which was supposed to be his prime. For someone who is often brought up as the best player in MLB history, he was very streaky.
#1 Derek Jeter
While this pick is likely to be met with a substantial amount of disagreement, when you delve into his career stats, you will find it is simply true that Derek Jeter did not live up to his hype. Jeter was a good player who made some clutch hits, but had Jeter not played for the New York Yankees, it is likely he would not have garnered such fame.
Statistically, no player hurt his team on defense more than Derek Jeter did.
Minus-253 career runs from fielding, worst (fewest) in MLB history twitter.com/barstoolsports…
"Statistically, no player hurt his team on defense more than Derek Jeter did. Minus-253 career runs from fielding, worst (fewest) in MLB history" - @ Paul Hembekides
Taking the sabermatric stat WAR, which means Wins Above Replacement, Derek Jeter comes in at -0.2, meaning he cost his teams more games on the field than he won. Derek Jeter was a good hitter, but a player who committed an average of over 12 errors per season should not be in the conversation about the best player ever.
Do you agree with our (somewhat controversial) list? Let us know below!