5 Tool Player

[tbob]

Ty Cobb was a 5 tool player. Sure you look at his dead ball numbers for home runs and see there weren't that many but I remember watching a show on tv which said Ty was PO'ed at the Babe for getting all the publicity and fame for his long balls and Ty said "I'll show that #$%^&*@" and hit 3 home runs the next game. Cobb said he didn't hit home runs because they weren't necessary but many old-timers said he could have hit a lot of them if he tried. Guess we'll never know.
As far as current players, how can you not mention Joe Maurer??? He has a laser for an arm, great for average and this year started showing he is going to be a power hitter. As far as his speed goes, he is no Lou Brock, but he is very fast for a catcher (damning praise) and pretty swift afoot for a player.
Mays and Aaron were great 5 tool players, that's obvious. What about Kirby Puckett? He was deceptively fast and became a power hitter later in his career. He hit for a great average and was a great centerfielder, with strong arm and ability to bring back potential homeruns. Ditto Ernie Banks who hasn't been mentioned but could play anywhere and had speed, a power bat, could hit for average and no one loved to play more than Ernie.

[tbob]

!

[Anthony S.]

Originally Posted by tbob

As far as current players, how can you not mention Joe Maurer??? He has a laser for an arm, great for average and this year started showing he is going to be a power hitter. As far as his speed goes, he is no Lou Brock, but he is very fast for a catcher (damning praise) and pretty swift afoot for a player.

He's a fantastic player, but if he does indeed have that fifth tool (ie speed), he's not using it very often. He has 5 steals over the past 2 years combined. He had 30 doubles last year, which is only 5 doubles than Benji Molina, who would lose a downhill race against molasses. He hit a full 100 points higher than Molina and his home and away doubles totals were 14 and 16 respectively, so the Hefty Bag Dome wasn't much of a factor. Just seems like he'd have more if he possessed that 5th tool.

[tbob]

Anthony- don't forget he (currently) plays for the Twins and their manager's strategy is don't ever bunt or steal a base when you can hack away. They are trying to keep the chances of injury down or aggravation of his back by not using him for stealing but he actually has pretty decent speed.
tbob

[KNH]

Originally Posted by tbob

Ty Cobb was a 5 tool player. Sure you look at his dead ball numbers for home runs and see there weren't that many but I remember watching a show on tv which said Ty was PO'ed at the Babe for getting all the publicity and fame for his long balls and Ty said "I'll show that #$%^&*@" and hit 3 home runs the next game. Cobb said he didn't hit home runs because they weren't necessary but many old-timers said he could have hit a lot of them if he tried. Guess we'll never know.

Sounds like Ichiro. He could hit a lot more HR's if he chose too. Definitely a 4 tool player and a 5 tool if he wanted to be.

Dave Parker from '76-'79.

[cardaholic]

How do you play several years at catcher and still end up with 3000 hits and 400 steals? He did.

No on Soriano IMO. He's a poor fielder.