There are coatings now in use that may achieve the same thing. Steve Phillips, former general manager of the New York Mets, told the New York Times that he felt the bats in use today are a lot shinier than they used to be.
That, of course is unlikely. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. Discover Membership. Editions Quartz. More from Quartz About Quartz. Follow Quartz. These are some of our most ambitious editorial projects. A vast majority of them are in superb shape, training year-round to prepare for long and grueling seasons with games nearly every day, and also to keep the body in optimal shape to extend careers and collect big paychecks as long as possible.
Trust us, letting their bodies fall apart is not high on the priority list for Major League Baseball players. Baseball players wear tight pants and a tucked-in shirts, which often emphasize extra-sized rear ends, or not-so-slim bellies.
Because of this, baseball players can be criticized when compared with athletes in other sports who also wear tight pants, like football. However, professional football players get to hide their physique behind big shoulder pads, other pads elsewhere on the body, and a looser, mostly untucked jersey around the midsection. Aside from appearance, are there reasons we see seemingly overweight players in baseball?
After all, its best player ever, the legendary Babe Ruth, appeared quite rotund in black-and-white photos from the s and s. However, photos from earlier in his career told another story. Indeed, Ruth over the years got larger, particularly in the mid-section. But was he actually fat? Some did call him The Big Fella , for good reason. At 6-feet, 2-inches tall and about lbs. Later in his long career, by the late s and especially into the s, his waistline did get larger, in part due to his hard-living style off the field.
He had stolen bases in his career, and perhaps more tellingly, triples — which even today are difficult for batters to achieve. Ruth surpassed double-digit season totals for triples 4 times, with his season high of 16 a total most major leaguers today would be proud of. Photo: Mark J. Vogelbach is listed at 6-foot, pounds, but it's tough to believe that's accurate. A second-round pick by the Cubs in who came over to Seattle in a trade for Mike Montgomery, Vogelbach has hit at every level.
He's a career. The problem is that he's a 20 [bottom of the scale] runner, and he isn't going to get any faster. It's really hard for me to believe he's going to be able to stay in the field. He might be a pretty good designated hitter, though. The reason for the stigma against short pitchers is partially obvious, and maybe not so obvious. The obvious reason is similar to that of the fat position player: while the rigors a starting pitcher faces are less strenuous than they were in the past, teams are still expecting starters to give them plus innings a year.
The less obvious reason is that a pitcher's height can make a dramatic impact in something scouts love to see: plane. We want to see that pitcher with long limbs come downhill, because it gives the hitter so much less time to adjust. When we're talking about short pitchers, it's very difficult for them to give hitters those kind of looks, and when they pick up the baseball, it doesn't really matter how good the stuff is, they're going to hit it hard.
While there aren't many examples of fat position players, the amount of pitchers who are shorter than six feet tall is growing. We've also seen some shorter pitchers selected early in the draft in the past couple of years, including Grant Holmes, who was a first-round pick by the Dodgers in But even with the recent success of some of these shorter hurlers, scouts and front-offices still can be hesitant to pull the trigger.
We claim to be a forward-thinking group, but when things get close, we tend to side with our old-school approaches. If you haven't heard of Espinoza yet, you will. Espinoza was given the largest bonus of any pitcher to come out of Venezuela by the Red Sox, and after showing world-class stuff in his time with Boston, he was dealt to San Diego in the Drew Pomeranz deal. Although listed at 6-feet, most believe Espinoza stands right around 5-foot, perhaps a half inch shorter than that.
I'd still say he's one of the most talented pitching prospects in baseball. Every pitch can be a strikeout pitch, and his feel for pitching at that age [18] is insane. He could be an ace, but again, I get why you would be concerned about his size.
Many fans are probably wondering who this Jeff Fulchino guy is. He's really only spent two full seasons in the big leagues as a middle reliever, and with the success the Houston Astros have had the past two years, he hasn't had the opportunity to garner much national attention. For those fans who have had the chance to see Fulchino pitch, the first thing most would notice would be his 6'5'' and pound frame.
Unfortunately, the above picture doesn't quite do justice to the size of his midsection, but pictures of this guy aren't exactly easy to find. Milwaukee Brewers' first baseman has long tried to distance himself from his estranged father Cecil Fielder, but try as he may, he will never be able to separate himself from the physique he inherited from the man sometimes called "Heavy-C. Although only last year Fielder was listed at 6'0'' and pounds, recent reports have him instead listed at 5'10'' and pounds.
The latter of the two figures is likely much closer to the truth. Fielder has shown tremendous power at the plate, hitting home runs in only six seasons in the league. How this man has managed to steal 15 bases and hit an inside the park home run during that span is truly incredible. Perhaps the most amazing thing about Fielder's considerable size is that during he became a vegetarian in an effort to cut back on his weight.
Anyone who has the opportunity to watch San Francisco Giant's third baseman Pablo Sandoval play defense or run the bases is in for quite a treat. Not only does Sandoval tip the scales at a hearty pounds, but he packs all those pounds on his 5'11'' frame.
It's not that Sandoval is incredibly slow or unable to play defense, it's simply his rotundness and occasional clumsiness that make him fun to watch. Due to what teammate Barry Zito generously dubbed his "surprising agility," he gave Sandoval the nickname "Kung Fu Panda. Debuting only three years ago and sporting a healthy.
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