Brock Holt
Perhaps no Red Sox player embodies the intersection between being a fan favorite and being overrated for what he did on the field than Brock Holt. As with his fellow “Flow Brow” Andrew Benintendi, a lot of this is driven by his good looks, big smile, and fun personality, three factors which helped to inflate his contributions on the field.
Holt came to the Red Sox in 2013 after spending his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and he played in Boston until 2019, after which he became a free agent and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was almost exclusively a utility player off the bench for the Sox, appearing in over 100 games in a season only three times in seven years (and in two of those seasons, just barely over 100).
Between the limited playing time and his constant battling of injuries, his career numbers bear that out: a .256 average with 23 home runs and 203 RBI in 615 games spread over his seven Red Sox seasons. On the flip side, in 2015 Holt played 129 games (the most of his career), made the All-Star team, and hit for the cycle.
He was versatile enough to play every position except pitcher and catcher, although he was primarily used as an infielder. He was on two World Series champions (2013, 2018) and hit for the only postseason cycle in baseball history when he accomplished the feat in 2018 against the hated Yankees in New York during the ALDS.
When the Red Sox declined to bring him back, the uproar from a huge segment of the Red Sox fanbase was over the top and out of proportion. Holt was a good guy who did a lot of charity work for the Jimmy Fund in Boston, had an adorable son, gave good hugs to JD Martinez after he (JD) hit home runs, and was just incredibly likable.
But at the end of the day, he was simply a utility player (and an injury-prone one at that). I liked him as much as the next fan and he definitely had his moments. He never hurt the team when he was on the field and from everything I can tell, he seems like a genuinely good person. With all of that being said, when the Red Sox didn’t sign him, fans acted out of proportion relative to how good he was.
Brock Holt was a fun player to watch and good at what he did, but he was incredibly overrated.