Underrated Seasons: Trot Nixon 2003

Trot Nixon put up some big years, which were not really noticed. I think a lot of this had to do with the fact that he was often replaced in the lineup due to having some problems with left-handed pitching. Nevertheless, he really had some great years and 2003 was the best of them.

In 2003, Nixon put up a slash line of .306/.396/.578/.975, all of which were career highs, by a significant margin. Nixon also 28 home runs, a career high, and drove in 87 runs. He also walked 65 times. Nixon's OPS+ was 149 and his WAR was 3.7, those are big-time numbers. Yet, Nixon was neither an All Star, nor a Silver Slugger, and he did not garner a single MVP vote, despite playing for a playoff-bound Red Sox team.

Defensively, Nixon struggled a bit in 2003, despite being otherwise a great defensive player. Still, Nixon had a big year at the plate and was not really noticed much for it.