April 2, 2012

The Aging Ballplayer

Patrick Saunders writes a great article on how age saps ballplayers of their abilities:

The first thing athletes lose is something Dr. Steven Traina calls the “boxer’s reflex.”

“As they age, athletes lose that first step, that explosive moment,” said Traina, a team physician for the Denver Nuggets since 1986. “That reflex is reliant on quick-twitch muscles, but you lose that as you age. That’s why we always hear that a player over 30 ‘has lost a step.’ And the thing is, you can never get that back.”

I also love the quote from Michael Cuddyer, whose long-term signing inspired the article:

“Yeah, I’m on my downswing, or so they say,” he quipped.

“First of all, I don’t pay attention to those sabermetric guys at all. I don’t look at the numbers. I don’t look at all of the formulas they put together. Look, you can either play baseball or you can’t play baseball. You can be 37 and still be able to play baseball, and I want to.”

Cuddyer’s slash line during his 26-27-28 year old peak was .275/.351/.456. His last three seasons, seasonal age 30-31-32 came in at .276/.341/.465. So far he’s holding up well. He’s making more outs, but compensating with power.

1 thought on “The Aging Ballplayer

  1. Alex Hayes

    The sentence ‘I don’t pay attention to those sabermetric guys at all’ just smacks of ignorance in this day and age. Whether you believe in sabermetrics as the most cost efficient way to build a team, or as the best way to evaluate talent, you should still appreciate it as a valid argument. And saying ‘I don’t look at the numbers’ is perhaps even more stupid; I bet he knows his batting average and how many home runs he hit last year without batting an eyelid, he shouldn’t exhibit such ignorance just because sabermetric numbers are a little (read: lot) more refined.

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