Jason Marquis underrated

Among the most criticized pitchers in baseball is Jason Marquis.

What has Jason done to have drawn this indignation? Is the ire from the fans or does it come from the so-called professional observers?

Marquis is 33 years old. He’s won 103 ballgames, albeit in 7 or 8 years. He’s a starter and when he’s healthy, he can always produce 200 innings.

Last year he was unhealthy.

Marquis had an operation to remove bone chips from his elbow. He had a terrible season before he had the operation to remove the bone chips. Obviously bone chips can affect your performance.

When he returned Marquis had a number of successful outings. Marquis had an earn run average of 6.60 last year, mainly due to his elbow problems. His average for 12 seasons is 4.50. But this year a newly healthy Jason Marquis has an earned run average of 3.53.

There’s another statistic that makes Marquis more valuable than indicated by numbers. Marquis has always been on a winner. Marquis was with Atlanta from 2000 to 2003, St. Louis from 2004 to 2006, the Chicago Cubs in 2007 and 2008, and the Colorado Rockies in 2009. All these teams made the post season play, although Marquis was never permitted to play a leading role in post season action.

If that wasn’t enough, Marquis also always carries a batting average over .200, with an on base percentage of .220 and a slugging percentage of .288 – not bad for a pitcher. With 562 at bats, he’s hit 5 homeruns and 30 doubles.

Marquis is currently with the Washington Nationals. As usual, the pundits in Washington are looking on with glee at the thought of trading him to a pennant contender, although he himself has put Washington into contention for a wildcard position. Marquis has already pitched 94 innings this year and looks like he’s on his way to a 200-inning season.

Marquis must rank as one of the more under-appreciated players in baseball.