Five-tool player

In baseball, a five-tool player is one who excels at hitting for average, hitting for power, baserunning skills and speed, throwing ability, and fielding abilities.

In Major League Baseball, players considered five-tool players have included Hall of Famers Willie Mays [ [http://www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/mayswillie/ Mays on thebaseballpage.com] ] and Duke Snider [ [http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/snidedu01.php Snider on thebaseballpage.com] ] . Non-Hall of Famers like Andre Dawson and Barry Bonds have also been described as five-tool players. [ [http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/dawsoan01.php Dawson on thebaseballpage.com] ] Active players who have been described as possessing the five tools include Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey, Jr. cite news | url=http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/sports2000/players/151063.html | title=Baseball's five tools | publisher=Times Mirror Interzines|date=1999-03-31|accessdate=2007-11-03|author=Bonavita, Mark | work=The Sporting News] cite news|work=Baseball Digest| author=Kevin Acee| date=June 2001| url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_6_60/ai_74090329| title=Majors' Five-Tool Players Who Are They? - skills of baseball players]

Criticism

"Baseball Digest", among others, has argued that the five-tool-player label is overused and overvalued. Status as a five-tool player does not correspond to superstardom; for example, Mark McGwire was a star despite lacking most of the five tools, while Ruben Rivera floundered despite, in the eyes of some scouts, being a five-tool player. Most players' status as five-tool is both debatable as well as contentious among broadcasters, scouts, and other interested parties. Also, players can gain or lose the status during their careers -- for example, Bonds lost his skills at speed and throwing from the outfield.

The fundamental problem is that the term requires human evaluation, and is thus subject to human error. Former Houston Astros general manager Tim Purpura, for example, admitted, "We really felt that [Richard Hidalgo| [Richard] Hidalgo] was your prototypical potential five-tool player as a center fielder. All his talent just flowed from him, and we all thought he was a can't-miss star. And while Hidalgo has demonstrated many of those tools, he hasn't come close to [Bobby Abreu| [Bobby] Abreu] 's consistency." [cite news|url=http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/neyer_rob/1483345.html|work=ESPN|title=Astros' Purpura burns to one day become a GM|author=Rob Neyer|date=December 28, 2002]

In "Moneyball", Michael Lewis critically portrays scouts who evaluate the tools of players while ignoring performance on the field. In particular, Billy Beane was a highly sought-after prospect in 1980 because scouts widely agreed that he possessed strong five tools, to the extent that some scouts rated him as a stronger prospect than Darryl Strawberry.cite book | title=Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game | author=Lewis, Michael | publisher=W.W. Norton & Company Inc | year=2003 | isbn=0-393-05765-8 [http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/2003/0514/1553766.html Excerpt] at ESPN.com, retrieved on 2008-03-21.] Beane did not become the star he was projected to be and did not have a notable major league playing career. "Moneyball" describes Beane's career as general manager of the Oakland Athletics. Beane's philosophy of identifying under-valued talents using statistical analyses in order to make the most of a limited budget leads him to discount five tool players because the five tools are so highly valued by other teams.

ources

* [http://www.123exp-baseball.com/t/02684546033/ Baseball Dictionary]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players ESPN - MLB Player Archives]

Notes