Tom Tango chimed in with an interesting thought over at The Book Blog today that I wanted to highlight:
Its interesting how little minor leaguers are paid, and how talented players, with limited drive, are weeded out. Imagine instead that minor leaguers are paid half the MLB minimum (200,000$ a year). Now, those leagues could see a shift of players with more physical tools than mental/emotional ones. And, that might not be the best thing. Indeed, its very possible that the low pay and rough life is part of the process of becoming a MLBer. In the NHL, Canadians make a big deal about the Sutter brothers, players with limited physical tools but huge on heart and determination, players who worked on their parents farm in the offseason, and on their own. When it comes to player makeup, its possible its an important attribute. Certainly in the lower leagues. And thats at least one place where scouting has a leg up on performance analysis.
Tango suggests that players who make it through the crucible of the minor leagues may by nature have good makeup, as they survive fairly tough conditions and an uncertain future for a long time before they see any payoff. It takes a lot of discipline and will to make it to the majors. This ties into previous discussions that we have had about effort. I firmly believe that unless you see something obvious to the contrary, most players give it their all on most nights. They have spent their entire life working to hone their craft and achieve success, and I do not see them relaxing once they reach the majors. It takes a certain breed to reach the top of a profession, and that sort of individual is usually fairly motivated.
Do you agree?
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12 Responses to Discussion: Considering Player Makeup
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Every spring, whenever a young player is interviewed he is typically asked the standard question “What have you learned here?” Almost without exception, the response is some variant on “How hard these guys work up here”. That statement tells me two things:
1) It stands out to them, so it must be different than what they’re accustomed to seeing in the minors.
2) The guys that they’re talking about are major leaguers, so those who get there tend to have certain things in common.
I would think that the low pay and the high odds of failure also select for players who have irrationally high confidence that they will be the exceptions, that they will make it to the bigs and make millions.
you make a compelling point that i dont normally factor.. my problem always comes back to the multiyear guaranteed contract. i’m older than most of you guys,started followig the yanks daily in 1965 and believe me it was a different game,..Every player was on a one year deal and every player busted it all the time. IT was a true pleasure to watch…While i realize that your right it must be very hard to hang with it on the way up,I’m so sick of waching guys make it, get the long term deal and then dog it until its walk time ( see pavano).With the strongest union in the country, the players will never go back to those great days.But i must admit that owners and gm’s are wising up in the last 2 years. However i still cringe at the sight of the long term balloon deal that the twins gave mauer. his character cannot be questioned but its not a stretch for any player to suffer a devestating injury which could wreck a franchise for a long time
But it would also tend to select out those with more viable options. Don’t mean to be negative, I just fear over-generalization. The certain things in common would certainly include talent, though some with blow-smoke-up-your-ass prowess may have less intestinal fortitude than the brothers in Mr. tomtango’s excellent example.
He seems quite the statgeek king.
I agree with Smurfy and would like to add that there are a lot of jobs that require a lot more labor than baseball and are often for the same money. It’s possible that some minor leaguers stay because it’s the only thing they can make money at that isn’t bagging groceries or working at a fast-food joint.
i didnt answer your question so the answer is no- i disagree. Jeter is the perfect example of a max effort max talent player…put aside the metrics and use your eyes…how many players in mlb play the way jeter plays- not many- he shoud be the rule not the exception!
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To clarify what I meant by various options available to the different players, I was thinking of the guy that had risen that far, and suddenly faced a block, whether a talent challenge or an injury, that caused self-doubt. He may lose the physical or emotional challenge eventually; when should he stop trying, and choose the practical path, the surer thing FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE?
Maybe it “comes natural” to some, but I’ll bet most faced some critical decision times, and whether the alternative was a future of driving truck or construction labor or a law degree, would make some difference. All who faced through it gained heart; some probably lost it later, maybe when they were pulling that tap one more time; others probably did just fine; but those who faced it, beat it, and beat it again, bet they have heart and determination to win.
Then there’s the “natural.” I think of Derek Jeter, but that’s probably off, because he was never the big home run hitter (unless back in high school?) or the dominant strike out king, with a red carpet laid before him, he was just good, as in playing as hard and as smart as he could.
Did he ever face a challenge? One that he didn’t just roll over? There was that tendency to take him on the hands, now that I remember. Pretty valuable, those hands.
Make that option a chance to trade futures, I hate lawyers.
oops. Just made some enemies. Some lawyers and the system.
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