More and more often we hear of teams looking for athletes who possess “athleticism”. Scouts and franchise veterans talk about a need for the teams to become more athletic and to invest heavily in ” live-body” athletes. In essence, they want teams to look at more than just the statistics that the athlete has compiled in high school or college.
This would be a great step forward if they would put this recommendation into practice. However I doubt that this will happen for several reasons. First, teams are still guided too strongly by statistics. And it is not merely how many games a pitcher has won or lost. They want to know how many miles per hour he can throw the ball, how many different pitches he has.etc.
In regard to a batter they want to know how many hits, what kind of hits (single, double, homer etc.) he has, his on-base percentage and so on. In addition, they look at how many errors the player committed, how many great plays were executed, his speed and so on.
Second, they typically do not know how to measure the physical abilities of the athlete as they relate to baseball (or any other sport). In many cases they do not know what should be measured that would indicate the athletes true athleticism. For example, how important is maximum strength (general and specialized), speed, explosive power, agility, endurance(general and specialized) coordination, etc.? How much of each of these qualities is needed for the best athlete, specific to the different positions?
Third, what characteristics does the athlete who has great athleticism process? we hear the term used quite often but rarely do we see its definition. One major component, however, is the ability to execute many different skills and be well coordinated. However what are these skills that they are looking for for each particular position?
Until these questions are answered teams will still have difficulty selecting some of the better players. However with answers to these questions they’ll be much better prepared to know what they are seeking and to find a player who can fulfill their needs.
Perhaps even most importantly is that sports training in the US is not geared toward developing athleticism or athletes who have abilities applicable to many sports, rather than just one sport. For the most part we do not allow young athletes to play many different sports. We make them specialize from the very earliest years. As a result, developing athleticism is impossible.
To learn more about what it takes to make an athletic athlete, read, Build a Better Athlete.