Why does B.J. Upton stink this year? Why is Josh Hamilton a shadow of himself in LA? Why is Josh Donaldson an elite player in 2013?
With the vast array of baseball data, how could the Braves and Angels be so off on their projections?
There are real answers to these questions, we just don’t know them. Baseball players are athletes and athletes are human beings.
So, what are humans made of? Image
While there is more to a human being than his/her elemental make up, you can see we are physically only made up of a few basic elements.
To sum this up; regardless of how good of an athlete you are, you are still made from the same elements are everyone else.
Let’s jump to water for a minute. Water is a compound; more basic than the composition of a human being but still just an atomic compound. In fact, 58%-78% of the human body is comprised of water.
Water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen molecule – or H2O.
I’m sure you remember learning about water in primary school. This is where we learnt that, ice, and steam are the same thing!
What we were really learning about were ‘states of matter,’ or how matter (H2O) can change when its environment changes.
Water (H2O) is greatly affected by heat; bring a pot of water to a boil and you get steam; put water into the freezer and you get ice…
Lets try to bring this back to the issue at hand; baseball.
While we know all humans are physically created equally, we also know some athletes are more athletic than others, some professors are smarter than others, and some bloggers are more interesting than others.
If we are all elementarily the same, the separating factor must be our environment.
For example, lets call Josh Hamilton of 2010-2012 ‘Water Josh Hamilton’. In Texas Josh Hamilton was his ‘water self’, the guy that fans around the league got accustomed to.
When Water Hamilton decided to move his ‘matter’ to LA, he may have changed states on multiple levels.
Here are the changes to Water Hamilton’s environment since moving to LA:
Guaranteed $133 million dollars.
Higher level of expectations (internal and external).
Changes to physical environment (weather, living arrangement).
New team, new coaches, new teammates.
Maybe Water Hamilton is now ‘Ice’ Hamilton (ice cold, ya get it?)
Maybe B.J. Upton is ‘Gas’ Upton…
Maybe Josh Donaldson is now ‘Water’ Donaldson…
I’m kidding to an extent; yes, Josh Donaldson is not a pool of water, Josh Hamilton is not a block of ice and B.J. Upton is not a gaseous ball; there is something to this however.
Baseball operations are supposedly capable of producing a raw projection for wins within two wins, but they were off by .200 on-base plus slugging (OPS) points on Josh Hamilton?
Did the Angels think for a second they might finish the season under .500?
Baseball players are athletes. Athletes are humans. Humans are made up of a few basic elements of matter. Matter changes depending on its environment.
Therefore, baseball players physically change when their environment changes.
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