Brittle players or just dumb luck?

by heybatterbatter on Jun 12, 2008 1:16 PM CDT Comment 2 comments

Some professional ball players seem indestructible. Brett Favre comes to mind of course.

But others seem always on the verge of getting dinged up or suffering a season-ending trauma. Here, Ben Sheets is always on the top of Brewers' fans list in this regard.

But I'm beginning to wonder if Rickey Weeks and JJ Hardy have the curse of living under the injury cloud. It seems that this circumstance is not a matter of pure chance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Rather, I tend to believe that, while both have tremendous skill and native ability, they lack the physical makeup demanded by the game. The stress of MLB level play has certainly taken its toll on players, and their teams take a big risk at making huge commitments to them.

In short, can Weeks and Hardy be relied on, from year to year, to perform at a high level of play? Ultimately, will their roles be one of utility players, with more resilient players taking their places?

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Its mostly bad luck

By the time ball players have progressed to the major league level, they have developed “baseball bodies”.Not on;y have they developed their baseball muscles by constant usage (and today’s specialized exercise programs), they have specialized in using the body structures needed to hit and field a specific position (or to pitch,often as either a starter or releiver).. As ballplayers, they should be as immune to injury as possible.
But there is a problem. Not all bodies (or portions thereof) are created equal. Some structures will not be able to become strong enough to play at the neccessary level. Many such players are injured while still in the minors. But enough will make the majors and be considered “injury-prone”. Still, its just bad luck that a weak area gives out at any given time. This analysis does not include injuries from beanings, player collisions. runing into fences, etc. These occur no matter how strong your body is.

by richfry on Jun 13, 2008 12:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

What about Rickey's habit of

buggy-whipping the bat in the dugout, in the OD circle, and in the BB and then injuring his wrist?

Got an opinion on that?

(Thanks for your considered response above, btw.)

by heybatterbatter on Jun 17, 2008 9:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

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