The name of Chris Coste probably is not familiar to most investors. Heck, most fans of the Philadelphia Phillies never heard of the journeyman catcher until he made the team after languishing in the minors for more than a decade. But even investors who may not know the difference between a baseball and a football should get to know his story.

His road to the major leagues was a rocky one (both literally and metaphorically, like the movie), which is neatly described in his book The 33-Year-Old Rookie:How I Finally Made it to Big Leagues after 11 Years in the Minors. The North Dakota native never gave up on his major league dream even after he suffered setback after setback. He is not a a superstar and does not pretend to be one. Teams, though, need scrappy utility players such as Coste who can produce clutch hits to help them win games. The same is true for investors building a portfolio.

Too often, the superstar stocks like Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) or Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) get all of the glory. But investors also have their reliable utility players that they can count on when the chips are down. Sometimes, like Coste, they have got some wear and tear on them, but they are still worth considering. Here are a few examples: