He was an MVP ‘lock’ a couple years ago (when rollins won?) before an injury – he’s recognized by many as the best second baseman in the NL if not the league and ‘plays the game the right way’ – I don’t think he’s under rated or under appreciated by anyone who knows the game…

Chase Utley really isn’t underrated or underappreciated in Philadelphia, except to the extent that lots of people probably think he’s merely “really good” instead of “retardedly awesome.”

He’s practically mute and “anti-charismatic” in the way ESPN and the national sports media like to present their superstars. Rollins is a terrific quote and Howard is a physical beast, while Utley just quietly puts up amazing season after amazing season.

Like jemagee said, in 2007 he was probably the favorite to win the MVP award before John Lannan broke his hand with an inside pitch. And he still had a better season than Rollins by most metrics.

What bugs me about the press attention Utley gets is that so much of it is of the David Eckstein “He’s a gritty white middle infielder who plays the game the right way!” when it really should be “Holy crap, this is a guy with a premium bat playing second base with an elite glove, how great is that?”

This reminds me of the Sunday night game in April of last year when Chase hit two home runs. After the first, Jon Miller said “Chase Utley might be the best hitting second baseman since Joe Morgan,” getting me all riled up in my anti-“Joe Morgan complimenting himself and the way the game used to be played” crusade. After the second, Joe himself, in one of his rare generous moods, said “Chase Utley might be the best hitting second baseman ever.”

Not to try and disprove the point – I agree that he gets far too much Ecksteinian love and too little of the Pujolsian variety.

Utley’s production tracks Kent’s pretty well, though surprisingly enough Chase started truly mashing at a slightly younger age. (The difference was that Kent had 3-4 good-not-great seasons, bouncing between the Jays, Mets and Tribe, before morphing into the beast he became with the Giants.)

Where Kent isn’t worthy to sniff Chase’s jock is, of course, on the defensive side. My guess is that Utley’s teammates somewhat prefer him as well.

Thanks for posting that—great piece. I’ve long felt that Utley is by far the most likely future HoFer among the current crop of Phillies stars.

Keith Law said that Utley was the only serious human NL MVP candidate for this year if somehow the robot from the future sent to destroy us all doesn’t win