Telltale signs of a good baseball player: What do we look for?
by HighLeveragePerformer
on Jan 7, 2009 2:34 PM CST
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Sit on the couch. Turn on the TV, and put on the Astros game. We see Berkman, Lee, Pence, Matsui, Oswalt and Rodriguez on the back of jerseys. Being that these are among our best players, it's probable that we subconsciously attach pre-determined opinions to these players regardless of how they perform on the field in any given game. If Michael Bourn lines a single to center, we breathe a sigh of relief. If Lance Berkman does the same, we don't bat an eye. We expect certain things from certain players based on reputation and opinion.
What if we removed the names and numbers from the jerseys and blurred the faces of the guys on the field? No stats on the screen either: batting average, runs, RBI, OBP, forget 'em all. The only thing we can judge by are how they look while in the batter's box or out in the field. Is there any one quality that a player can exude in order to make him appear to be a "good" player? How he holds his bat? The sound the ball makes when struck? Or how about not getting fooled/having superior pitch recognition abilities? And in the field, what does a player do to make you stop and take notice- the route a player takes to the ball, his throwing arm, the ease with which he makes the play?
Do mannerisms and body language tell us what kind of player a guy is, or at least what kind of player he thinks he is? From personal experiences, it's plain to see that Manny Ramirez is at total ease when at the plate in a clutch situation. Other players have the look of a person who may not be up to the challenge at hand. I think players like Ramirez, or our own Lance Berkman usually appear more confident at the plate because they realize that they are great contact hitters and are able to take what the pitcher gives them. They won't expand their strike zones (unless the situation absolutely warrants it) and as I touched on before, don't look foolish very often. Compare that to Hunter Pence a guy who, despite his skills, doesn't seem to do as well in late inning situations. Whether it's swinging even more wildly or not reacting as well to pitches as he would earlier in the game, Pence lacks the calmness of his teammate Berkman. Mark Loretta may not be half the player Pence is, but if you'd ask me who I'd rather have up at the plate in a high leverage situation, I would say Loretta ten times out of ten.
From style, to appearance to mannerisms, baseball players all have their own identity. From that identity we're able to establish opinions, and subjective thoughts about them. What qualities (if any) do ya'll look for in a player?
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Oddly enough,
though I’m a firm believer in the statistical side of baseball (as well as basketball and football), I find myself evaluating players based on looks all the time. I think it’s a load of crap, and I try to ignore it, but I still do it.
Well, some guys just look like they’re leadoff hitters. That’s probably because they look “fast” (lean, a little wiry, kinda small, black). That’s why Michael Bourn bats leadoff, not because he has any talent in getting on base. Compare Bourn with Wigginton – the guy who should have been batting leadoff all last season – and it’s obvious that Coop (and most other managers) makes decisions based off of appearance.
With pitchers, I think working quickly (beyond simply throwing strikes and getting guys out) makes you look like you’re a good pitcher. Oswalt, even when he’s in a jam, looks like he’s going to get out of it because he doesn’t hesitate and immediately gets back to pitching, rather than repeatedly throwing to a bag or calling the catcher to the mound.
by Only_A_Lad on
Jan 7, 2009 3:33 PM CST
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One word says it all
You definitely touched on my cornerstone of baseball judgment:
CALM
Berkman, Oswalt, Lee, Manny and most of the great players exude a sense of calm when they should by normal standards freak out. And because the best players can afford to remain calm and trust their muscle memory and talent, the results follow. Sadaharu Oh had to work for a sense of calm, overcoming his youthful exuberant days with the study of samurai and zen. That to me is the finest example of attaining a one-ness with the game. Berkman for that one incredible month last year was a Jedi Master.
Guys like Pence and Bourn look nervous. You can hear their brains whirring, guessing the next pitch, tightening their grip on the bat and, inevitably, flailing. Even when Berkman misses a pitch, it’s most often a Grade-A swing, because he trusts his swing and stays calm without thinking too far ahead. Pence wasn’t gifted with a pretty stroke. My diagnosis for improvement, therefore, would be for him to read Oh’s autobiography, A Zen Way of Baseball, and find himself a sensei.
by alamosweet on
Jan 7, 2009 3:35 PM CST
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Calmness in the box or mound.
Berkman can get pretty pissed when a call doesn’t go his way. But he is, as you say, a “Jedi master” within the confines of the batter’s box.
by Only_A_Lad on
Jan 7, 2009 4:09 PM CST
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Agree with most of the thoughts above.
I would add that visible bat speed can make a hitter look very good. Berkman sometimes shows incredible bat speed. The one thing that gives me hope for Bourn is that his bat speed looks good, too. It’s when you see him starting to guess what’s coming and hesitating at pitches that he looks bad.
For most fans, plain old hustle is something which influences opinions. That’s something we love about Biggio. That similar puppy dog enthusiasm is something people bring up about Pence all the time. Some very good players don’t always hustle (Carlos Lee and Manny Ramirez are examples) and many fans get a negative opinion of them. Is the hustle factor overrated by fans? I don’t know. All I know is that I like to see the all out hustle.
I absolutely agree about pitchers working fast. And I think, for pitchers, outward calm and speedy work translates into success because hitters can read the body language. Oswalt and Wolf looked calm and confident all the time. Wandy is the guy who sometimes looked uncertain and faltering. A few years ago, I happened to watch Freddie Garcia pitch for the White Sox in a WGN game. The White Sox were up by 4 runs in the 5th over the Twins (I think) and it started pouring down rain. The Twins kept getting runners on base, with errors and blooper hits, and soon the bases were loaded and they were down by only 1 run. This looked like disaster for the White Sox. With rain falling and the umps trying to get the game in, the conditions looked terrible for Garcia. But the amazing thing is that Garcia looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. He looked like he could be throwing to the catcher in the park on a clear spring day. At that moment, I realized that, no matter how the game turned out, Garcia’s demeanor and personality made him a great pitcher. (And he did get out of the innning with a win.)
by clack on
Jan 7, 2009 4:53 PM CST
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that's because Garcia was high as a kite
he had no idea where he was
by Only_A_Lad on
Jan 7, 2009 6:02 PM CST
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Hustle
You bring up a good point: the relationship between hustle and the fan’s perception. I agree that hustle is fun to watch. But at the same time, the traits that make a great slugger, for example, do not make a great hustler. Since we’re talking about Jedi Masters, I’ll ask this: did Obi Wan Kenobi hustle? Would you think of him as a figure who exerted max physical effort in every situation, regardless of the import? I don’t see it that way. The great hitters are expert at the alternating currents of relaxation and exertion. Their art is one that requires the two extremes of physical state literally from one half-second to the next. Hustling, on the other hand, is a bull-headed and indiscriminate commitment of physical energy to the play whether it’s a double-into-a-triple or a weak pop-up.
Manny—the test case for so many of these discussions—understands this really well and busts his ass on plays that he needs to. But on plays that he doesn’t need to, he relaxes and saves his intense focus for when he can make a difference. There are times when he gets screwed on this, sure, and people hate to see it and for a long time I hated to see it, too. But statistically speaking I’m guessing it’s an insignificant trait. (this is not an argument about whether he’s GOOD at fielding or not, just that he hustles about it).
Hustle is a mindframe, just as great slugging is a mindframe. It may be time to accept that they don’t necessarily overlap. Frankly, I’d rather see Pence hit 30 jacks and .380 OBP than watch him sprint back to the dugout like Pete Rose rounding third.
I will now step down from my soapbox.
by alamosweet on
Jan 8, 2009 9:11 AM CST
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