They Done Nico Dirty

    One of the baseball players that I specifically follow but don't mention too often on the blog is Nico Hoerner. 

(great shot they got for this card)

    I love the way Nico plays the game -- he's living proof that you don't need to hit homers to be a great player. His combination of insane defense and mad bat-to-ball skills makes him a bit of a threat to pitchers, even though they can usually rest assured that they aren't going to be serving up a homer. 

    Anyway.....Nico's been great this year; he is currently batting .287 across 86 games with 51 runs, 37 RBI, and 16 steals. He also sports the best glove among National League second basemen, leading the league in fielding percentage, putouts, and double plays.

    My point? Nico's an All-Star game snub. 

    My real point? Players such as Nico Hoerner are severely underrated.

    I don't think Nico being left out of the All-Star game is a huge deal, except that he said it would be a dream come true to make the roster. No, the real crime is how undervalued players like him are.

    They aren't particularly flashy since he's not batting .320 or hitting a bunch of homers, but his fielding is elite, as well as his speed. These factors are helping the Cubs win games.

    I don't rely heavily on advanced statistics such as WAR, but to prove a point, I suppose I'll use it.

    Seiya Suzuki (another All-Star snub, by the way) is slashing .260/.319/561 with 25 home runs and a league-leading 77 RBI in 86 games, and has a WAR of 2.1. The statistic is saying he has won the Cubs 2.1 more games than a league-average replacement.

    Nico Hoerner, on the other hand, has 3 home runs. However, his WAR is 3.5, suggesting that he has won one and a half more contests for the team than Seiya Suzuki has (versus an average backup, of course).

    Now, I don't use WAR to determine how good a player is. Suzuki has been much better on offense than Nico, and I don't think anybody would question that. 

    The thing I do appreciate about WAR is that it takes defense into account. Suzuki is a pretty bad fielder, and Nico is the best fielder at his position, which is why the stat leans in favor of Nico. 

    The bottom line is that Nico Hoerner exceeds at defense while also providing decent numbers with the bat (not to mention his miniscule 6.8% strikeout percentage). And I feel that players like that are criminally underrated since they aren't as flashy.

    But, that's just my opinion on the matter. I'd be interested in seeing how anybody else feels on the subject. 

    Until next time, have a great week, thanks for reading (and sorry for the extended rant 😂) and happy collecting!