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Detroit Steel said 06/01, 02:01 PM
It has to be Shaun Marcum.

To many of you, it is probably "Shaun Marcum who?" but Marcum has been one of the best pitchers in the league, even on a struggling Toronto Blue Jays offense.

Marcum found success this year, going 5-3 with a 2.63 ERA and 67 strikeouts.

Marcum has always had success, in his rookie season, he had 65 strikeouts in only 78.1 innings. In the year after that (2007), Marcum went 12-6, mostly as a starting pitcher. And now - he could be a contender for the AL Cy YOung.

I had a fantasy draft for baseball at the beginning of the season with my family and some friends. It was a ten-team league. We were going to be creative with a AAA team and a pro Team. 50 rounds, Marcum didn't get picked until the 39th.

Marcum is the most underated pitcher in the league, I can't think of anyone close.

Detroit Steel said 06/01, 06:14 PM
I assume that you mean Ervin . . .

Ervin Santana isn't really underated because he has only had success for one-third of a season - and anyways, Ervin Santana isn't underated, he is finally livng up to expectations.

This is for the whole career, and like I said, Santana has only had success for a short time while Marcum has had success so far in his career.

Marcum's career stats:

20 wins
13 losses
3.89 ERA
1.17 K/9
.240 Opp. avg

And yet, not too many people know who he is.

Santana's career stats:

42 wins
32 losses
4.60 ERA
6.87 K/9
.257 Opp. avg

And the sad thing with Santana is that he is beginning to be a little overated with all of the attention he is getting in a big city like LA. Marcum is still underated, and with better stats.

"Before this season, many people did not know who Erwin Santana was. People knew Marcum as the pitcher on the Blue Jays. "

Many people knew before this season that Santana was a pitcher that hasn't lived up to expectations yet. Not many people heard of Marcum, a young pitcher that has put up crazy good stats in only his third year.

Marcum is more underated.

Detroit Steel said 06/02, 07:04 PM
I had no idea who Marcum was before this season but I do now. I knew who Santana was before this season.

I knew that Santana was a pitcher that put average stats up in his rookie season. How do I know that? Because all of the media goes to big cities like LA, not Toronto. A lot of people have heard of Santana before.

"All of the attention was focused on Colon and Lackey."

Are you kidding me? You could be a Triple A player on a team like that and still get attention.

Marcum is an average pitcher? Just and "average pitcher"? Last time I checked, if you were a pitcher with a Winning % of over .600 and you had a career ERA of 3.89, you were MUCH better than an average pitcher. An average pitcher has an ERA of around 4.30 or above, so if you want average, look Ervin's way.

You said that not many people knew who Ervin was coming into this season. Well, now EVERYONE does. This isn't "Surprise Pitcher of the Year," it's "Underated pitcher." Since Marcum has MUCH better stats and less people know him than Santana.

So - I don't know how you can call Marcum overated when not a lot of people know who he is and when he has much better stats.