Los Angeles Angels

Best of the Decade: Shortstop

What makes picking the top shortstop of the past decade so difficult is that there isn’t even a WAR consensus between the two websites; Baseball Reference has Andrelton Simmons as the top shortstop of the 2010s but Fangraphs hands Troy Tulowitzki that honor. I actually think that neither of the above was the top shortstop of the decade—it was Francisco Lindor.

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Yes, Mike Trout is Actually Underrated

I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Mike Trout, the best player in the history of baseball, is underrated.

The seven-time All-Star selection, two-time MVP, and six-time Silver Slugger is underrated.

Mike Trout is the highest-paid player in the game of baseball. He just inked a 12-year, $430MM contract extension. That money doesn’t do justice to just how good he’s been.

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2017 Recap: AL West

During the season, the Astros got some high-quality production out of their regulars, and though young phenom SS Carlos Correa missed around two months with a torn ligament, Swiss Army knife Marwin Gonzalez was able to fill in admirably for Correa. Shockingly, Marwin’s .303 BA was only the fourth-best on the team out of any regulars, which is not actually all that shocking when you consider that the team’s batting line as a whole improved from .247/.319/.417 in 2016 to .282/.346/.478 in 2017, a 21% increase in productivity.

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