Underrated vs. Underappreciated: Athletics Have Both in Piscotty and Bassitt

You can count the Oakland Athletics' right fielder Stephen Piscotty among the most underrated players in the game today and pitcher Chris Bassitt among the most underappreciated.

Is there a difference between a player who is underrated and one who is underappreciated?

The powers-that-be in the Sports Illustrated universe of websites have a story posted today with a headline that talks about underrated players from each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams.

The story, however, talks about underappreciated players, which I think most of us will agree would not necessarily be the same thing.

Their choice for the A’s is first baseman Matt Olson. I’m not sure how anybody who has won back-to-back Gold Gloves and who has hit 89 homers in the last 2½ seasons, 36 last year alone, as underrated.

He might be underappreciated, although even there that might be something of a stretch. Nationally he doesn’t always get the publicity that he would if he played for the Cubs or the Yankees or the Red Sox, but that says more about the way baseball is seen in terms of television markets rather than in terms of team quality.

So, if it’s not Olson, who is the A’s player most underrated? And the one most underappreciated?

I think there is a good case to be made for Stephen Piscotty as the most underrated member of the current A’s roster.

He plays a solid right field and has a decent arm. He’s a career .265 hitter with some power, including 27 homers two years ago and 13 last year when he was limited to 93 games by injury. He played a full season in 2018 for the A’s after coming over from St. Louis but a couple of injuries, including a late August ankle injury that kept him off the postseason roster, haven’t allowed him to claim right field as his own.

He might be able to do that this year, having gotten past a spring oblique injury, but that will depend on large part on when baseball revs up.

As for the most underappreciated, you could do a lot worse than going with pitcher Chris Bassitt.

He started 25 games last year and has the possibility of starting just a handful of games this time around with injuries to A.J. Puk, Jesus Luzardo and Sean Manaea and a suspension to Frankie Montas all being in the past.

Already this year he has moved in and out of the rotation. He was down to be a reliever, but when Puk got injured in spring training, he moved into the starting ranks and would have begun in the rotation had the season started on time. But the lockdown due to the COVID-19 coronavirus has given Puk time to heal, so Bassitt, who won 10 games, seems headed back to the bullpen.

You can be sure that manager Bob Melvin appreciates Bassitt, though. The right-hander has told Melvin he’ll do whatever job he’s asked to do, no questions asked.

Managers appreciate that from their players.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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