MLB's Most Underappreciated Star Now Even Better After Breakout 2014

Enough people appreciate the Mike Trouts, Clayton Kershaws, Miguel Cabreras, Bryce Harpers and Giancarlo Stantons of the baseball world. And they should! They're darn good players.

But at any given time, there's always one guy out there who's criminally underappreciated. Typically, it's a guy who's been really good and who's only getting better. And this year, it's obvious who that is.

It's Michael Brantley. Hands down, it's Michael Brantley.

Now, I'm choosing my words carefully here. To call the Cleveland Indians left fielder "underrated" would be going too far. For hitting .327 with an .890 OPS, 20 home runs and 23 stolen bases in a breakout season in 2014, he was awarded with an All-Star selection, a Silver Slugger Award and a top-three finish in the American League MVP voting. That's some good recognition.

So why "underappreciated" instead? The thought occurred when looking at the year's first update for the American League All-Star voting. Per MLB.com, the AL outfield race looks like this:

Rank	Player	Team	Votes
1	Lorenzo Cain	Royals	1,376,217
2	Mike Trout	Angels	1,297,085
3	Alex Gordon	Royals	991,606
4	Adam Jones	Orioles	981,926
5	Yoenis Cespedes	Tigers	668,059
6	Alex Rios	Royals	629,119
7	Jacoby Ellsbury	Yankees	546,188
8	Jose Bautista	Blue Jays	499,673
9	Michael Brantley	Indians	484,548
10	Hanley Ramirez	Red Sox	478,070

It's easy to notice that fans have caught Kansas City Royals fever after their shocking run to the World Series last year—they're pushing for Alex Rios even though the dude has only played in seven games.

But the other thing that's easy to notice: Brantley is down at No. 9 among AL outfielders. After looking at that, you'd think he was authoring a disappointing follow-up to his breakout campaign in 2014.

Nope. Through 39 games, Brantley is hitting .313 with four homers, seven steals and a .901 OPS. Rather than going backwards, he's picked up right where he left off.

Of course, popularity is the lifeblood of All-Star voting. Ever has it been, so shall it ever be.

But if we were to imagine just for a second where Brantley would be if actual production was the lifeblood of All-Star voting, we could find a proper place for Brantley.

Player	wRC+	Offense
Nelson Cruz	202	22.1
Mike Trout	159	15.9
Josh Reddick	158	12.5
Michael Brantley	153	11.5

Looking strictly at 2015 production, fourth among AL outfielders sounds about right. According to FanGraphs, that's where Brantley ranks among qualified AL outfielders in wRC+ (that stat quantifies a player's hitting value) and overall offensive value. The only guys in his league offensively this year are Trout, Nelson Cruz and, surprisingly, Josh Reddick.

But if we were to stretch the "What have you done for me lately?" question back a bit further, we could place Brantley even higher. Since the start of 2014, only Trout has a higher wRC+ and more total offensive value among AL players. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Brantley is also second to Trout in WAR.

So never mind ninth among his fellow AL outfielders. If production actually mattered in the All-Star voting, Brantley would be somewhere between fourth and second. He's that good.

Oh, and let's not forget the part where he's getting better.

Take one look at his numbers since the start of the 2014 season, and Brantley certainly seems to have all the tools on offense. He has a blend of power and speed that isn't overly common in the ranks of MLB hitters, and he can obviously hit for average.

But it's in looking at how Brantley hits for average where things get interesting. That's where you find two elite tools, both of which have only gotten more elite in 2015.

One of those tools is Brantley's bat control, which is best highlighted by a skill that's becoming increasingly rare in today's MLB: his ability to make contact.

You'll notice that simply by looking at his strikeout rate. It's fallen from 8.3 percent in 2014 to 6.3 percent in 2015, a rate that leads all qualified hitters this season. Next to that league-leading stat, it's therefore a disappointment (using the term loosely) that, as of the start of play on Wednesday, he was actually second in MLB behind Ben Revere with a 2.7 swinging-strike percentage.

Even still, that's nearly a one percent improvement from the 3.6 whiff percentage Brantley posted last year. At a time when baseball's whiff habit is trending upward, Brantley is going in the other direction.

And yet simply focusing on Brantley's ability to avoid whiffing doesn't do his bat control justice.

In mid-May, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs offered this fun tidbit at Fox Sports:

"

How might we best show off [Brantley's] bat control? I calculated in-play rate, which is the rate of hitting the ball fair with swing attempts as a denominator. For example, the league average is 42%. That means that, 42% of the time, when an average hitter swings, he hits the ball somewhere between the lines.

Third place right now? Andrelton Simmons, at 55%.

Second place right now? Angel Pagan, at 57%.

And first place? Brantley, at 70%.

"

In so many words, it's not just that Brantley doesn't miss when he chooses to swing. It's also that he doesn't miss the playing field. To that extent, nobody in baseball is his equal.

Further, it's not exactly getting easier to predict where Brantley is going to hit the ball. 

Heading into Wednesday, FanGraphs put Brantley's rate of pulled balls at a career-high 45.3 percent. But while that would seem to make him an obvious shift candidate, the opposition has to be careful. Because next to Brantley's career-high pull rate is a 27.3 opposite-field percentage, which is also a career high. 

Now you know a bit about Brantley's bat control. No matter which perspective you look at it from, it's good. Really good. Freakin' insanely good.

But that's just one area where Brantley is advancing his development. A second advancement has to do with him actually walking back on something he was doing in 2014.

David Maxwell/Getty Images

There are many reasons for Brantley's big breakout in 2014, but the one he's peddled in interviews is increased aggressiveness. According to Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer, that was a mission born out of advice he got from his father, Mickey Brantley.

"He said, 'I want you to get ready to hit every pitch,'" said Brantley last November. "That meant from the first pitch that pitcher threw to me that I was ready to hit. In years past, I hit like a leadoff hitter. I wanted to hit the perfect pitch, to have deep at-bats and see some pitches."

Brantley didn't morph into Pablo Sandoval in 2014, but he did get more aggressive. He went from seeing an average of 3.76 pitches per plate appearance to seeing an average of 3.57, and he also posted a career-high swing rate (42.1 percent) and a career-high chase rate (25.1 percent).

But this year? This year, things are different.

Brantley may be seeing a career-low 3.45 pitches per plate appearance, but he's also working on a career-best 12.6 walk percentage, per FanGraphs. Not surprisingly, that comes with a 38.0 swing rate and a 21.1 chase rate. He's still aggressive, but he's also remarkably disciplined.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

How disciplined? If you go by swing rate, Brantley is basically Matt Carpenter's equal. If you go by chase rate, he's not far from being Joey Votto's equal.

Because Brantley was already so good, he didn't need to change anything to have another great season in 2015. But he's put himself in a league of his own with his contact habit, and he's also among the game's best in terms of discipline.

So if there are any youth hitting instructors out there who are looking for simple advice to impart on their students, "Be like Michael Brantley" works. He's become pretty much the ideal hitter.

On the field, that's meant results more than worthy of his outstanding breakout in 2014. If there's any justice in this world, it will start to matter in the All-Star voting, too.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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