MLB's All-Underrated Team

Now that we're past the All-Star Game, which honored the game's most celebrated players, it's time to take a look at other players who do not get the credit that they are due.

Not all of these players deserved to have been All-Stars (most of them probably did not), but they do deserve more recognition for what they've done in 2012 than they have received.

I based my selections mainly on 2012 statistics (with one notable exception, photographed above), their WAR statistic (Wins Above Replacement Player, which attempts to quantify exactly how much a player contributes to his team winning—or losing—games) and the percent of teams that own the player in fantasy baseball leagues.

I think that those three factors, taken together, provide a good indication of how well the player has actually played this year along with whether he is properly recognized for his production by fans.

Catcher: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Boston Red Sox

The major league leader in home runs for a catcher is owned in just 57 percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues and 45 percent in ESPN leagues.

Saltalamacchia not only leads the majors in length of last name, but he also leads all catchers with 17 home runs and is yet drastically underrated.

Granted, his .229 average and .282 on-base percentage are subpar, but his .490 slugging and .772 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) are among the position's best. They are better than Brian McCann's, Matt Wieters' and Mike Napoli's.

Saltalamacchia doesn't hit for average, but his power this year makes him a very underrated player.

First Base: Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox

Paul Konerko has been underrated for his entire career.

He hit his 400th home run this season, and at age 36 with 410 home runs, he's a good bet to get to 500 for his career.

He's hit more than 40 homers twice, 30 homers seven times and 20 home runs 13 times. He has a career .283 batting average with an .860 OPS.

And yet, he's only been an All-Star six times and has never finished higher than fifth in the MVP voting.

Unfortunately for Konerko, he's been overshadowed for his entire career by the likes of Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira and Joey Votto.

Konerko's one of the best first basemen of his generation but has sadly always stayed under the radar.

Second Base: Aaron Hill, Arizona Diamondbacks

Aaron Hill is only owned in 76 percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues and did not make the All-Star Game.

How is that possible?

He's hitting .300 on the year, and ranks second place among all major league second baseman in home runs (12), slugging (.502), OPS (.857) and WAR (3.1, according to FanGraphs.com).

Hill has been the best second baseman in baseball this year other than Robinson Cano, but he's clearly not getting his due.

Third Base: Trevor Plouffe, Minnesota Twins

After beginning the season as a utility player alternating between infield and outfield duties, Trevor Plouffe has emerged as the Twins' starting third baseman and has excelled.

Plouffe entered 2012 with just 103 major league games under his belt and 10 home runs. This year in just 70 games, he has 19 home runs and an .859 OPS.

At a deep third base position, his OPS ranks him in eighth among major leaguers who play at the hot corner, and he's second in home runs (behind Miguel Cabrera).

And he's doing this in the cavernous Target Field, where he's hit 12 of his home runs.

The Twins' poor offense has only given him the chance to drive in 37 runs, and he's only hitting .257, but his power has made him one of the better third basemen in the league without being widely recognized as such.

Shortstop: Ruben Tejada, New York Mets

Jose Reyes left big shoes to fill when he left Flushing and took his talents to South Beach, but Ruben Tejada has done a great job as the New York Mets' shortstop and is not being properly recognized.

Perhaps this is because he's only played 45 games due to a quad injury, but despite playing in roughly half of his team's games, his 1.5 WAR puts him twelfth among major league shortstops—which is very impressive, considering he would have approximately a 3.0 WAR if he had not missed time and would be second-best with that stat.

Tejada doesn't have any home runs, but he does have 14 doubles in 45 games and is hitting .324 with a .375 on-base percentage. Both of those numbers are tops among shortstops. He also plays quality defense.

As he plays more games, people are going to realize that Ruben Tejada may be the real deal.

Left Field: David Murphy, Texas Rangers

Left field is one of the best positions in baseball, featuring players like Ryan Braun, Josh Hamilton and Carlos Gonzalez, and because of that players like David Murphy don't get recognized for the contributions they makes to their teams.

In a stacked lineup, Murphy does exactly what the Rangers need him to do: get on base. He gets on base at a .371 clip, and he's got some pop in his bat as well; he has nine home runs in 219 at-bats.

Murphy also has speed (he has seven stolen bases) and has an .832 OPS.

And yet, he's only owned in 10 percent of Yahoo! and ESPN fantasy leagues.

He's not one of the game's elite, but David Murphy is an all-around good player who is overshadowed by the likes of Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz and Adrian Beltre in Texas.

Center Field: Gerardo Parra, Arizona Diamondbacks

Let's compare the 2012 statistics of two major league center fielders. Call them Player X and Player Y.

Player X: .270 AVG, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 11 SB, .337 OBP, .413 SLG, 1.8 WAR

Player Y: .278 AVG, 5 HR, 35 RBI, 15 SB, .345 OBP, .399 SLG, 2.1 WAR

Player X is owned in 11 percent of Yahoo! leagues and eight percent of ESPN leagues.

Player Y is owned in 71 percent of Yahoo! leagues and 93 percent of ESPN leagues.

How does this make sense?

Player X is Gerardo Parra of the D-Backs, and Player Y is Alejandro De Aza of the Chicago White Sox.

Their numbers are remarkably similar, and yet they are clearly valued very differently by fans and fantasy players.

Parra's numbers aren't stellar, but he's got some pop and speed and helps his team win games. He should be getting more credit.

Right Field: Tyler Colvin, Colorado Rockies

Jose Bautista, Carlos Beltran and Giancarlo Stanton are all right fielders. Which one of them do you think leads right fielders in OPS in 2012?

The correct answer is Tyler Colvin, who does not play in right field full-time but has emerged as the Rockies' primary option at the position.

In addition to posting 13 home runs and a .597 slugging percentage, his .926 OPS leads all players at the position this year and yet is only owned in 50 percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues and 87 percent in ESPN.

Some of his success can be attributed to playing half of his games in Coors Field, but his home/road splits are not drastically different. He's hitting .307 with seven home runs in 37 home games this year and .283 with six home runs in 32 road games, with an almost identical number of plate appearances.

Colvin is a youngster that people should be talking about more.

Starting Pitcher: Jason Hammel, Baltimore Orioles

Many wondered what the Orioles were thinking over the winter when they traded Jeremy Guthrie to the Rockies for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom.

Turns out, they knew exactly what they were doing.

Jason Hammel has had a resurgence in Baltimore this year, with an 8-6 record, a 3.54 ERA, nine quality starts and 106 strikeouts to just 39 walks.

Unfortunately for Hammel and the O's, he had arthroscopic knee surgery this week and will miss about a month.

But, despite his success this year, Hammel is owned in just 57 percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues. Even with the injury, that number should be higher.

Relief Pitcher: Matt Belisle, Colorado Rockies

Can we all finally agree that saves are a ridiculous statistic? Yes? Good.

So, now that that's out of the way, Matt Belisle has been one of the best relievers in all of baseball this year, even though he does not have any saves.

In 48 innings, Belisle has allowed just one home run, and his ERA is just 2.25.

In fact, Belisle has the third highest WAR of any reliever in baseball at 1.6, meaning that he contributes to his team winning more than any reliever other than Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel despite the fact that he has zero saves.

And, he's doing it in Coors Field.

Yet, he's owned in just 4 percent of Yahoo! fantasy leagues because he doesn't get saves and gets very little attention because he's not a "closer."