Derek Jeter's Career Statistics, Playoff Heroics Make The New York Yankee Anything But Overrated

With the New York Yankees retiring Derek Jeter’s No.2 Sunday night, plenty comes to mind in regard to the shortstop’s baseball career. “Class” for the way he carried himself on and off the field, “winner” for his five championship rings and even “captain” would probably be among the first choices of Yankees fans.

But despite his playoff brilliance and individual career statistics that make him a surefire Hall of Famer, a significant number of fans, players and media members would use another word to describe Jeter—overrated.

Jeter was voted the most overrated player in baseball in a 2008 Sports Illustrated poll of 495 MLB players. He ranked third on the list in a similar survey three years later, and numerous articles were written on the subject when the shortstop retired. Keith Olbermann had one of the most popular takes when he dedicated an entire segment of his short-lived ESPN show to Jeter’s supposed unwarranted praise in September 2014, and a google search of “Derek Jeter overrated” produces 93,200 results.

It’s not exactly hard to see why so many people question Jeter’s greatness. Considering he was the face of baseball while never being the sport’s best player, his popularity surpassed his actual value on the field. Jeter never won an MVP award, and it can be argued that he was rarely, if ever, the most valuable player on his team.

Detractors of the shortstop will also point to advanced defensive metrics, which highlight Jeter’s inadequacies in the field. If Jeter’s career had begun 15 years later, his five Gold Glove awards probably wouldn’t exist.

Jeter is often thought to be a player that can’t be defined by stats. His supporters will bring up his intangibles that can’t be seen in a box score, while his critics will argue that those factors are overblown.

But the truth is that Jeter’s statistics are exactly what make him an all-time great, and the talk of his immeasurables might even overshadow just how impressive some of his numbers are.

It’s impossible to put Jeter’s career into the proper perspective without realizing just how highly he ranks in terms of all-time great shortstops. While he might not have put up the gaudy power numbers that some others of his era did, Jeter’s consistency puts him near the top of the list of players to ever man the position.

Among all shortstops in MLB history, Jeter ranks in the top 10 in hits (1st), runs (2nd), home runs (5th), doubles (5th), walks (6th), RBI (8th) and WAR (10th). His 358 steals are good for 19th, and no other shortstop in history ranks better than 20th in all of those categories.

Jeter was able to compile high totals in each category because his career spanned 20 years, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t consistently great. He ranks 9th in OPS among shortstops that have played at least two full seasons at the position.

When it came to simply getting on base, few shortstops were better. Among all shortstops in the last 60 years, Jeter is second to only Alex Rodriguez with a .377 on-base percentage, and his .310 batting average falls behind only Nomar Garciaparra, who played nearly half as many games as the Yankee captain.

According to baseball-reference.com, more than 18,600 players have put on an MLB uniform. Only five have more hits than the 3,465 that Jeter accumulated during his time in New York.

Playing at least 130 games in each of 18 seasons, Jeter finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting eight times. He made 14 All-Star teams and he has an All-Star Game MVP award and five Silver Slugger awards on his resume.

Then, of course, there are the playoffs, where Jeter shined more than almost anyone. He’s first in hits, doubles, and triples and total bases among players of any position in the postseason. Only Manny Ramirez and Bernie Williams have more career playoff home runs, and he’s fourth in playoff RBI.

Sure, Jeter got more opportunities in the postseason than anyone, but he made the most of his chances. He was named the 2000 World Series MVP with two homers and a .409 batting average, and he hit better than .345 in five of his seven trips to the Fall Classic. The struggles of players like A-Rod on baseball’s biggest stage only highlighted just how remarkable Jeter’s playoff career was.

Jeter’s brilliance in the postseason goes beyond just his stats and titles. The “flip play” in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS and his dive into the stands against the Boston Red Sox three years later are among the most iconic moments in MLB history, and he had an uncanny knack for coming up big at just the right time.

It’s why it was hard to be surprised when the shortstop got a walk-off hit in his final at-bat at Yankee Stadium, ending his career in the Bronx in the most Jeter way possible.

“I came over at the trade deadline with the Reds [in 2003], and that was the only team I had played with to that point. I went to New York thinking Derek is a great player, but after playing with him for a few months, I left there knowing how special he was as a player,” former Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone told the New York Post earlier this week. “It just seemed in the biggest moments there was just an urgency, a confidence. You hear all the time with athletes, you don’t want to be afraid to fail and he has that. You felt it, he wanted to be the guy.”

Rodriguez certainly had a better overall career than Jeter, as did Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken Jr. and Ernie Banks. No other shortstop, however, gets the clear nod over Jeter.

Having put together a better career than the likes of Ozzie Smith, Robin Yount and Barry Larkin, Jeter is probably the fifth-best shortstop in MLB history, playing a position that has 24 members in the Hall of Fame. By comparison, 23 first basemen, 21 second basemen and 16 third basemen have been given MLB's highest honor. No other position has more representation in Cooperstown, aside from pitcher, than shortstop.

If that’s “overrated,” then the word needs an entirely new definition.