Mountcastle’s speed

[joelala]

12 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'll be shocked if Mountcastle plays an inning at short.  Unless Buck comes back and trades for him.

I think Mountcastle was considered a SS coming out of HS about as much as Reynolds was.  I don't recall ever reading anything that predicted he would stay at short.

Yea RM will never play an inning of short unless we somehow revolutionize the defensive shift 

[Yardball85]

I still don't understand why they didn't call him up 1-2 weeks before so we could have avoided Dwight Smith's last week of badness.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Yardball85 said:

I still don't understand why they didn't call him up 1-2 weeks before so we could have avoided Dwight Smith's last week of badness.

Obviously he was still working on things in Bowie.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with making 100% sure he would miss the super 2 deadline.

[Moose Milligan]

He's been a better runner than expected, for sure.

I am wondering if, in addition to all the newfangled fancy things they're doing with analytics, they're also teaching people to get faster and run better.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'll be shocked if Mountcastle plays an inning at short.  Unless Buck comes back and trades for him.

I think Mountcastle was considered a SS coming out of HS about as much as Reynolds was.  I don't recall ever reading anything that predicted he would stay at short.

Mountcastle is less a shortstop than Carlos Delgado was a catcher.

[survivedc]

1 hour ago, joelala said:

Yea RM will never play an inning of short unless we somehow revolutionize the defensive shift 

I believe he played one at bat of third-ish in a 5 infielder shift. Am I making that up?

[ChipTait]

8 minutes ago, survivedc said:

I believe he played one at bat of third-ish in a 5 infielder shift. Am I making that up?

Sure did.  Then returned to LF while still wearing his infielders glove!  He’s a mad man!

[jabba72]

Who is faster Mountcastle or Reimold in his peak years? Reimold didnt get to Baltimore until he was 25.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Who is faster Mountcastle or Reimold in his peak years? Reimold didnt get to Baltimore until he was 25.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/nolan-reimold-460099?stats=statcast-r-running-mlb

Reimold.

At 32 he was at 28.1 and 33 he was at 27.9.

That's all the data I could find.

[joelala]

2 hours ago, ChipTait said:

Sure did.  Then returned to LF while still wearing his infielders glove!  He’s a mad man!

Gold glover

[jabba72]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/nolan-reimold-460099?stats=statcast-r-running-mlb

Reimold.

At 32 he was at 28.1 and 33 he was at 27.9.

That's all the data I could find.

Great find, you're right unless Mountcastle (27.8) has yet to attempt max speed running to 1B yet. Which could be possible. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Great find, you're right unless Mountcastle (27.8) has yet to attempt max speed running to 1B yet. Which could be possible. 

Even if that's true I think you'd have to assume that 25 year old Reimold would be quicker than 28.1.

[Hallas]

4 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Even if that's true I think you'd have to assume that 25 year old Reimold would be quicker than 28.1.

While most guys on the top of the speed list are a hair faster in their mid-20s, their top speed doesn't seem to drastically decrease in the early 30s.  Sterling Marte posted the second best average sprint speed of his career at age 31, and he is still able to post >30 fps this year at age 32.

I am increasingly feeling like baseball performance degradation with age has more to do with the grind and the risk of injury, rather than an actual loss of skill.  I suspect that a player like Barry Bonds could still hit Major League pitching at age 56, assuming his vision is still good.  The problem is that he can't do it every day, and he certainly can't do it without risking injury at a much higher rate than a younger person.  I've noticed similar things in in football, watching players like Darryl Green outrunning everyone at age 40.  I think that's why golfers can play into their 40s - aside from being a lower impact sport, you can take weeks off without really hurting your competitive standing, so if you're not feeling great, you take a week off, play a round, hit a few range balls, rehab any nagging injuries, and go back to hitting the ball 400 yards next week.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Hallas said:

While most guys on the top of the speed list are a hair faster in their mid-20s, their top speed doesn't seem to drastically decrease in the early 30s.  Sterling Marte posted the second best average sprint speed of his career at age 31, and he is still able to post >30 fps this year at age 32.

I am increasingly feeling like baseball performance degradation with age has more to do with the grind and the risk of injury, rather than an actual loss of skill.  I suspect that a player like Barry Bonds could still hit Major League pitching at age 56, assuming his vision is still good.  The problem is that he can't do it every day, and he certainly can't do it without risking injury at a much higher rate than a younger person.  I've noticed similar things in in football, watching players like Darryl Green outrunning everyone at age 40.  I think that's why golfers can play into their 40s - aside from being a lower impact sport, you can take weeks off without really hurting your competitive standing, so if you're not feeling great, you take a week off, play a round, hit a few range balls, rehab any nagging injuries, and go back to hitting the ball 400 yards next week.

So if someone literally broke their neck, it might slow them down? 

[Hallas]

18 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

So if someone literally broke their neck, it might slow them down? 

Not really that sure if that affected his top speed significantly.  I'd feel differently about a torn ACL or a history of hamstring injuries.