In the past 20 years there have been 20 first round picks. The most outstanding position player out of those picks is undoubtedly Alex Rodriguez and Chipper Jones is second. However you would never believe who number three is. When I looked at his numbers I guess I just forgot about how good he was. THe funny thing is that I guess a lot of people have forgotten.
Pat Burrell has had a quiet resurgence of late. He was drafted number 1 overall in the 1998 draft class by the Phillies. Who were recently stung by JD Drew at the time, so they were gun shy about selecting Burrell, worried that he would pull the same shenanigans. What they didn’t realize at the time was just how special a player they got. He rocketed through the minors in just under a year and a half and ended up in Philly in 2000. Since then he has a 162 game average of 0.260/32/104, of course that would be if he could play all 162 games, which has never happened in his career.
This year Pat is hitting 0.277/27/67 and was on the fan’s choice for NL All Star. Unfortunately he got beat out by Corey Hart, but there was clearly support out there. Just read Stale Gum’s take on it here. The reason I bring him up as undervalued wax is because over the past 2 days I have won 4 auctions for his autographs totaling $8.00. I remember his autograph cards going for $30 – $50 or more per card. I was getting them from $2.00.
Look he may not put up the sexy numbers that a lot of other power hitters do, but he’s a blue collar player and one that certainly shouldn’t be overlooked. When it’s all said and done, he’ll probably hit somewhere between 400-450 homers and have around 1500 RBI’s. Certainly worth more than $2. Plus with ringing endorsements from Chris Harris, how can you overlook someone like Burrell. Below are a few examples of some of his autographed cards.
