Player poll: Bryce Harper edges Yasiel Puig as most overrated in MLB

Bryce Harper and Yasiel Puig have been described in many different ways during their young MLB careers: talented, cocky, spectacular, foolhardy, captivating, frustrating.

Some of their peers have another word for the two outfielders -- overrated.

ESPN the Magazine polled 143 anonymous major leaguers on a variety of topics for its March 31 issue. When asked about the most overrated player in baseball, 24% picked the Washington Nationals’ Harper and 21% named the Dodgers’ Puig.

Yankees veteran Alex Rodriguez, who is suspended for the 2014 season due to his role in the Biogenesis scandal, was third with 14% of the vote.

Harper was the 2012 NL rookie of the year, helping the Nationals to the franchise’s first playoff berth in more than 30 years with 144 hits, 22 home runs, 59 runs batted in, 98 runs scored and a .270 batting average.

He played in 26 fewer games in 2013, but many of his numbers remained largely similar: 116 hits, 20 home runs, 58 RBIs, 71 runs scored and a .274 batting average. But the Nationals missed the playoffs with an 86-76 record and Harper’s season might be most remembered for a collision with the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium that eventually led to him missing several weeks of play.

Puig was No. 2 in NL rookie-of-the-year voting last season. He helped spark an incredible Dodgers run that didn’t end until the NL Championship Series, with 122 hits, 19 home runs, 42 RBIs, 66 runs scored and a .319 batting average in 104 games.

But Puig slumped in spring training this year, hitting just .122. And he has been known at times to fail to hit the cutoff man or with go into brain freeze while running the bases.

What do you think? Who is baseball’s most overrated player?