During the first half of the season, Matt Albers was the Washington Nationals' best reliever by a landslide. But the bullpen was a train wreck, so nobody noticed. Since the All-Star break, he’s been just as good, if not better. Yet he remains overlooked because he wasn’t part of the pen's blockbuster midseason makeover. Being underestimated is nothing new for Albers. While there's no denying he can pitch, the husky righty has had to swim upstream -- because he doesn't necessarily look like a pitcher.
“Matt didn’t have the greatest body,” says former Astros scout Rusty Pendergrass, now with the Diamondbacks.