SB Nation Reacts: The most exciting players in the game

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Red Sox fans, sign up HERE to join Reacts.

We are back for another week of fan polling. Apologies for the results from last week’s poll coming so late. I had a little bit more going on than expected this weekend and didn’t get a chance to tackle this one. But we are hear today to talk about the latest confidence poll results from Red Sox fans, as well as talking about Shohei Ohtani and some of the other most exciting players to watch in the game.

Fan Confidence Poll

So, let’s consider this as a snapshot in time rather than where things actually stand right now for Red Sox fans. This poll goes back to the Houston series, when things were really bad for the Red Sox. On June 2, Boston had lost their third straight and were staring down the barrel of a sweep in Houston to start a very important month on their schedule. That explains the dip in fan confidence, which fell to 59 percent. That is the lowest confidence has fallen since the second week of the season, right after being swept by the Orioles.

Of course, in the time since this poll Boston has won four straight including a sweep on the road against the Yankees. So, I’m just going to go out on a limb and say things will be trending up the next time we look at this.

Most exciting players

I certainly can’t really argue with anyone who pick Ohtani, who is just out of this world. To say the most exciting player is the guy to do something that hasn’t been done in over a 100 years, if ever, is not a controversial opinion. That said, I think I’d go with Acuña. He’s taken the throne of my favorite non-Red Sox player, and I just adore everything about the way he plays. But really, you can’t go wrong with any of those choices, and particularly the top three.

Can he? Absolutely he can. If the goal is for him to do both, he can absolutely do both. However, the goal is to have him on the field as much as possible and get the most value. So, I don’t think he will, even if he can.

I don’t think there’s any question about this. Ohtani is an incredible hitter, and while he obviously has a ton of ability on the mound as well his control can be an issue at times. I actually think the best thing for everyone is to have him pitch in relief, where the control can be less of an issue. That would allow him to hit most every day and come in for the late innings every once in a while. Of course, the Angels need more rotation depth before they could make that kind of move.

There are two different, but reasonable, definitions of “best” that could be used here. In terms of the most valuable player who provides the most WAR, it’s Trout. The answer is always Trout. But the most talented player is Ohtani, because he can do everything at a high level. Really, Ohtani has kind of destroyed my concept of what “best” even means in baseball. There’s an argument he’s the best player in a century while also not being the most valuable player on his own team, and that just breaks my brain.