Undervalued 2B?

[Bobblehead]

I have been looking at everyone's rankings here for 2B and was wondering why Mark Bellhorn isn't ranked higher on many people's lists?

Last year among 2B he ranked 7th in HR, 6th in Runs and 5th in RBI's. He bats in a lineup that scores more runs than just about any team. To my knowledge he is not in any danger of loosing his starting job either.

I haven't seen him ranked much higher than about 12 among other 2B, many times not listed at all, and was wondering why?

His downfall is no SB and a .265 AVG but he seems to be a positive (as far as 2B go) in 3 of the 5 standard categories.

Is everyone forgetting about Bellhorn or am I missing something?

[Pogotheostrich]

Judging by his career BA he won't hit .265 again.

My guess is 90 R, 15 HR, 60 RBI, 0 SB and .250 BA.

[thomasps3]

i guess the one thing that seems to be overlooked by everybody is the halo effect that seems to happen when you are surrounded by other good hitters. A perfect example of this is another Red Sox player, Bill Mueller. Prior to arriving in Boston, he had never hit higher than .271, and then he proceeds to go out at the age of 32 and win a batting crown. I would be surpried to see Bellhorn drop another .15 in ba this year and am projecting him, with not to much uncertainty, for a .265-.270 ba this year.

[BB1017]

How about Womak... I'm picking in the 16th round. I have Burke at 2nd with a back-up option of Infante, but Infante is my SS. thinking of grabing Womak just so I have a few options in the IF.

another option is use Infante and Burke at 2B and go after another SS....humm Barmes is still on the board as well as LA's Valentin (30HR's in 04)...

Maybe that is the answer... Valentin???

I have Patterson, Hunter, Cameron, Burke, and Infante for SB's

So whats the advice... Grab the extra SS??

[Mordraken]

Bobblehead - I agree that Bellhorn MAY be undervalued on the draft lists, but I'm wondering if the cheat-sheets reflect what's actually going on. I expect Bellhorn to be ranked higher based on his last year's results. I think last year was the first time he played full time 2B (most times previously he's been a utlility player playing all over the place). Maybe he just needed an "every-day" job to develop.

Further, his 2B/3B elligibility makes him even more valuable IMO.

Looking at who is projected above him (at least from one site:

Giles, Soriano, Vidro, Kent - all consistent 100 Run/RBI guys
Loretta, Durham, Walker - all solid, but I don't see any really heads & sholders above Bellhorn.

I think although Bellhorn may be ranked a little low, any of those guys may outperform any other. The real kicker may be SB - Bellhorn doesn't steal (27 steals in 500 games).

I don't think he would be a bad pick in the mid-rounds as a starting 2B, and would be an excellent IF utility guy.