Blog Archives
The Baseball Struggles of Tall/Heavy Players After 30: Is Prince Next?
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Follow @mlbreportsFriday, Apr.12/2013
Prince Fielder will turn 29 in May. Throughout my studies of some extremely tall – or heavy playera, the time of deterioration in ones ability seems to seep in about the 34 Year Old Age range. In my opinion, the club should move to trade Victor Martinez and shift Fielder over to the DH position ASAP, so they can preserve his body for the next 8 years of his contract. He will be 37 when his big deal ends. Fielder has a Career 3 Slash Line of .287/.393/.931. The second generation Fielder, has clubbed 262 HRs and added 774 RBI in 1168 Games Played. Will he suffer the same fate as the others in this article (including his dad) – or will he buck the trend?
By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
I am still astounded when I see that Prince Fielder has not been turned into a Full – Time DH – and can still man the position of First Base. The Tigers were lucky enough to sign him last year.
So when should the club decide to take the glove out of Fielder’s hand?
Victor Martinez is there at the Designated Hitter position now, however they should convert Prince Fielder to DH the second V-Mart vacates the club after the 2014 season.
When I thought about this a little more I realized that tall/heavy hitters really have a tough time keeping their productivity up once they are near the second half of their career. It is really not that hard to figure out.
A player that is taller also carries a larger Strike Zone, where the overweight players will only lose any speed they had as their career starts winding down.
For this particular article, I choose 4 players to study this exact scenario. Those players are: Richie Sexson, Tony Clark, Mo Vaughn and Cecil Fielder.
Prince Fielder wins the 2012 HR Derby:
A Tribute To Milwaukee Brewers Great Teddy Higuera
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Follow @mlbreportsMonday January 14th, 2013
Teddy Higuera finished 2nd In Rookie Of The Year Voting in 1985, with a 15-8 Season for Milwaukee. He then followed that up by placing 2nd and 6th in AL Cy Young Voting in 1986 and 1987 respectively.
By Ben Dobson ( Brewers Correspondent): Follow @brewerpride06
Teodoro Valenzuela Higuera (born November 9th, 1958 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico) was an All-Star Starting Pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers during the mid 80′s to early 90′s. Teodoro, better known as ‘Teddy”, began his career with the Brewers in 1983, when his contract was purchased from Indios de Ciudad of the Mexican League. Higuera spent a year in the Minor League’s before making his debut on April 23, 1985 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. In front of a massive crowd, (10,719 maybe not massive) Teddy produced the following line: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO.
Pretty solid start to his rookie campaign. Higuera lost his first two career starts to the Tigers and White Sox before picking up his first win on May 3 at the California Angels. The Lefty pitched a Complete Game allowing, only 4 hits – en route to a Shutout performance. Higuera then had an amazing 2nd half to his Rookie season, going 11-3 in July, August, September and October combined. The season was stellar enough to place him 2nd in Rookie of the Year Voting – just behind Ozzie Guillen. Taking a look at Higuera’s Year by Year Statistics – it makes one wonder why he was only considered for (1) AL MVP Award and how he only made (1) Career All-Star Game Appearance?
MLB Bloopers: Teddy Higuera Milks a Cow!
Jack Morris: It Is Time To Elect This Winner Into The Baseball Hall Of Fame!
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Follow @mlbreportsTuesday, January.08/2013
Jack Morris led the Major Leagues for Wins in the 80′s by posting a 162-119 Record (.577). He was a 5 Time ALL-Star and had 6 Top 10 Finishes for AL Cy Young. He also hurled 175 Complete Games. He won 20 Games 3 separate years, 16+ Wins in 10 Years and 15+ Wins in 12 of his 16 full years – and 18 seasons overall.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The debate for whether or not Jack Morris belongs in the Baseball Hall Of Fame has heated up to an ALL-Time high with the big vote going down tomorrow. 575 members of BBWAA fraternity will decide whether or not the big man from Minnesota will enter one of the hardest Hall Of Fame’s to enter in pro sports (if not the hardest). Morris will need a 75% (432 Minimum Votes) of them to write down his name on their ballot for enshrinement into Cooperstown. Last year, Morris received 66.7 % of the writers votes in his 13th year of eligibility. He will have his name on a 14th ballot this year. He has been trending up in recent years, so if he can improve with the same amount of 2011-2012 jump of (+13.2%), then he will make it in. If he fails to reach the Hall this year, 2014 would be his last year of eligibility for the BBWAA Vote. He could still make it via the Veterans Committee after that.
Jack Morris was a winner, a true throwback pitcher who came after hitters with reckless abandon. He pitched based on what the score was – and had no personal regard for his own personal statistics. It is this very reason why the debate has hit epic proportions on social media hubs, amongst bloggers, former players, analysts, broadcaster and statisticians. I intend to prove the case for the guy in a manner that will have some similarities to other pieces you may have read, yet promote a big look into the numbers that I have been bouncing around in my head for months. I even have had a #JackMorrisAwarenessWeek on Twitter and have been having feuds with people on the other side who don’t think he belongs in Cooperstown- while I have been Retweeted by his biggest supporters. Let the battle lines be drawn!
