The 2013 playoffs have been one for the ages. Dominating pitching from the likes of Michael Wacha helped carry the St. Louis Cardinals in to the World Series just as clutch-hitting from Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino helped keep the Boston Red Sox in line for their third title in the last 10 years. While most want to celebrate the positive aspects of the game, one cannot look past the performances of a few players who underachieved in the postseason. These are the top-10 players who underperformed through the first three rounds of the playoffs.
10. Josh Donaldson Oakland Athletics
In no way does this critique say that Josh Donaldson was the reason for the Athletics’ first round exit to the Detroit Tigers; however, of all the members of the team to have at least 15 at-bats, he posted the second-lowest average (.143), lowest on-base percentage (.182) and lowest slugging percentage (.143). The biggest issue with Donaldson’s numbers is that he is without a doubt a top-five American League MVP candidate based on his regular season performance, but while he was able to prevent a lot of runs against the Tigers on the defensive end, he was unfortunately not able to plate any runs on the offensive end.
9. Joey Votto Cincinnati Reds
One could argue that Joey Votto doesn’t belong on this list because he only played in one game in the postseason, the National League Wild Card Game; however, in that one game he went 0-4 with two strikeouts. Votto led the Reds with a .305 average as well led the NL with a .435 on-base percentage during the regular season. Normally in one game during the regular season this wouldn’t be a big issue, but this was literally the most important game for the Reds in 2013 and Votto’s performance was hardly becoming of him.
8. Julio Teheran Atlanta Braves
The first of three pitchers to appear on this list, Julio Teheran had the best winning-percentage for all the starting pitchers in the Braves arsenal… and he only lasted 2 2/3 innings in one game of the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Teheran pitched a decent first inning during Game Three of the series, but it was in the second inning when Carl Crawford lit Teheran up for a three-run home run after a lineout RBI to right field by Dodgers starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu. The wheels continued to fall off into the third inning and that was all she wrote for Teheran and his 2013 postseason.
7. A.J. Burnett Pittsburgh Pirates
One could debate that A.J. Burnett had a worst postseason that most, especially Tehran; however, Burnett’s bad performance took place during the first game of the Pirates matchup against the Cardinals while Tehran’s game put the Dodgers within one game of the National League Championship Series. In the end though, they both blew it. Burnett only lasted two innings, allowing seven earned runs including a three-run dagger from Carlos Beltran in the third inning before loading the bases for a Jon Jay RBI walk and a three-run single plus throwing error by David Freese. The game was pretty much lost from there.
6. Michael Young Los Angeles Dodgers
How many failures does it take before you have to bench a guy for not getting the job done in crunch time? For Michael Young, he had an unlimited pass, but for those playing at home he blew it five times when given a chance to help the Dodgers put some runs on the board for a possible win including two times grounding into doubles plays. Young went 1-10 and took at-bats in nine of the 10 postseason games the Dodgers played in. For a guy who was clutch for so many years with the Texas Rangers it’s a mystery as to what happened to his bat while donning the Dodger blue.
5. Stephen Drew Boston Red Sox
Stephen Drew has performed so below the radar in the postseason that he almost escaped being on this list; however, one cannot ignore the fact that he has gone 3-35 between the American Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays and the recently-wrapped up Championship Series against the Tigers. Drew is mostly in the lineup for the sake of a solid glove in between second and third base, but we're also talking about a guy who dominated the playoffs when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007. Drew has yet to be a real contributor offensively for an AL team in the playoffs dating back to last season with the Athletics. In 2013 Drew has a triple, two RBI, one walk and 13 strikeouts to his credit. Yikes!
4. Elliot Johnson Atlanta Braves
Remember when Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez made the decision to keep Dan Uggla off of the postseason roster? Guess who his replacement was? Elliot Johnson did what very few thought was possible; perform worse than what Uggla might have done. In 15 plate appearance in the NLDS Johnson drew one walk, laced one hit (a triple) and scored one run. Uggla is a pretty decent fielder, but also packs a mighty wallop with his bat. Johnson has only hit over .209 for a season once in his four-year career. This decision will forever go down as one of the worst roster moves in postseason history.
3. Wil Myers Tampa Bay Rays
Wil Myers has a lot of great years ahead of him, but even his rookie status couldn’t keep him out of the top-three. The problems started in the American League Wild Card Game against the Cleveland Indians when he went 1-4 with a single, but three strikeouts. Myers’s offensives woes continued in the Division Series against the Red Sox where he got one hit, one walk and the egregious fielding error which could have ended the fourth inning for the Rays in Game One, but ultimately opened the flood gates for the Red Sox. Myers went on to hit .100 for the postseason, but still has the AL Rookie of the Year Award coming his way… hopefully.
2. Neil Walker Pittsburgh Pirates
It was a dream come true for the Pirates and their fans to finally end the playoff drought and reach the postseason for the first time since 1992. To Neil Walker it meant the most, having grown up in the city that he played for. Expectations were high and his collapse in the postseason hurt the most. Like Marte, Walker went 2-5 with a double and a RBI in the Wild Card Game against the Reds; however, he proceeded to go 0-19 with two walks in the NLDS. Clint Hurdle is a manager who stick by his players and lets them get out of jams, but perhaps Walker was given way too many chances in way too many clutch situations.
1. David Carpenter Atlanta Braves
It may seem pretty harsh to put a relief pitcher at the top of this list, but there are some pretty infallible reasons behind this. The most important thing to point out is that David Carpenter was one of the best pitchers the Braves had coming out of the bullpen. He was 4-1 with a 1.78 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings pitched during the regular season. He was the next best thing to closer Craig Kimbrel. Unfortunately for Carpenter and the Braves, his fortune did not carry over into the postseason as he got lit up twice in the most pivotal games. In Game Two he gave up a Hanley Ramirez two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, but sill held the lead. In Game Four he sealed the Braves’ fate by giving up the game-winning two-run home run to Juan Uribe also in the bottom of the eighth inning. Who knows what would have happened if the series went to a Game Five?