You always hear scouts talk about the tools that each player has, how they are 2 way players or 5 tool talents. What exactly is a 5 tool player in the eyes of scouts?
"A 5 tool player is one that has great speed, can hit for average, hit
for power, a great throwing arm and is excellent defensively."
This 2012 Topps Triple Threads highlights 3 of MLB's best 5 tool athletes. Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen, and recently traded Justin Upton. The card is numbered 23/27 and features jersey relics of the young superstars.
We've all seen Triple Threads cards before so I won't focus too much on the card. Instead I want to examine each of these players tools and if they truly are 5 toolin'. I will take a look at each of their 2012 statistics.
Besides Assists, it's really hard to judge sabremetrically how strong a player's arm is. Sure you can look at runs saved, but that also includes their range factor so believe me when I say that all 3 of these athletes possess a strong throwing arm, but that is probably their worse of their 5 tools.
First we'll start with last year's rookie phenom.
MIKE TROUT
great speed: 49 SB and only 5 CS. CHECK
hit for average: .326 (2nd place in AL) won a Silver Slugger CHECK
hit for power: 30 HR or 1HR per 18.6AB CHECK
excellent defensively: saved 20 runs and put up a 2.1defensive WAR CHECK
ANDREW McCUTCHEN
sick card, great addition!
ReplyDeleteThere was a version on ebay a few months back where they all had patches and it was numbered out of 3 which sold for only like $40. Now the /36 versions of this card are selling for over $50 a pop. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to get this for around $20 but it would have been nice to had the patch super rare version to my collection for that price.
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