1991-2017 All-Underrated Team: Starting Pitcher

I have been watching baseball for 27 years now. In that time, I have been obsessed with under-the-radar players. These are my picks for an All-Underrated Team. I have picked one player for each position and their best season.

With the rise of analytics, it is easy to look back to the past and find some surprising things.  Some seasons look much worse than thought at the time (Tony Armas was worth -0.8 WAR in 1983 despite 36 home runs and 107 RBIs), and some seasons look much better than thought at the time.  Danny Darwin's 1993 season was a decent season using traditional statistics as he led the team in wins (15) and innings pitched (229.1).  He had a decent ERA (3.26) and 130 strikeouts.  It was obviously okay, but it was nothing terribly special.  

Or was it?  Upon a deeper, analytical basis, it becomes clearer that this was a very good season by the 37-year-old veteran.  Darwin also led the team in WAR (5.7), and that includes all hitters on the team.  But the biggest reason it was a very good season is that he led the league in WHIP (1.068), making him an incredibly efficient pitcher, if not the most flashy.  He allowed 196 hits and walked 49 in his 229.1 innings.  

His best start of the year was a near no-hitter on August 18 against the White Sox.  He gave up just one hit: a triple by Dan Pasqua.  Even that hit might have been an out if Billy Hatcher were just a little bit taller.  

Darwin had a very good season in 1993, and it is a good thing that he did, as Roger Clemens faltered badly.  Had Clemens pitched better, Boston would have done better than their 80-82 record.  Without Darwin, the team would have been lost completely.  He was the ace of the staff that season, but it is mostly a forgotten season.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Two of the below pitchers are former Cy Young Award Winners, but to explain: Frank Viola was brought in to combine with Clemens for a great 1-2 punch in the rotation, but went just 13-12.  At the time, it was considered a disappointment, but further analysis reveals him to have had a very good season, for a bad team.  Saberhagen was never expected to pitch well again after his injury in 1996, but he came back to be a very serviceable arm in the rotation for Boston for a few years until injuries ended his career.  His 2.95 ERA is incredible given the high-scoring era it occurred in but is almost an afterthought.

Frank Viola (1992): 6.2 WAR

Bret Saberhagen (1999): 2.95 ERA

Bronson Arroyo (2005): 14-10, 205 innings pitched