Quote:
Originally Posted by BirdWatcher
This is a bit tangential and not something I am suggesting is modeled in OOTP, but I heard an interesting bit of talk on a recent Fangraphs Effectively Wild podcast. They were discussing George Springer and his age and potential defensive decline as a center fielder and the fact that he is not one of the fastest center fielders in the game to begin with. (Acknowledging of course that he is incredibly fast by normal human standards, just not by elite baseball centerfielders standards.) They indicated that one of their colleagues had studied this topic and their findings showed that centerfielders who were not at the top of the scale in speed actually aged better defensively than their more speedy counterparts. I think the theory is that the speediest centerfielders might rely more on their ability to cover ground where the slightly less speedy centerfielders might have honed better skills at reading balls off the bat, taking more efficient routes to the ball, etc.
Like I said, a bit tangential here but related to some of the issues being discussed here. And I really found this interesting so this is a good excuse to share.  |
That is interesting indeed.
Did they mention peak age? I found a study saying age 26 was the peak defensive age for baseball players, with a slight gradual decline beginning at 27 and a sharper decline past 30. It made sense. It makes more sense than peaking at 23, which is what I'm seeing in ootp (albeit in a small sample).