Remember Lyle Overbay, former major league first baseman who donned a uniform for seemingly half the teams in baseball before hanging it up in 2014? Well as it turns out, there is an unofficial rule that exists in his honor that deals with the valuation of players and how to evaluate your own lofty expectations for those “blue-chip” prospects that are ascending through the ranks.
Before we get into the rule and what it means, I should provide a little background as to where I learned of this phenomenon and why it carries any relevance. This year I spent six months as a scouting intern for a private company that collects data, provides scouting reports, and works in conjunction with many major league teams to formulate a database of information on current players.