Did you expect Bryce Harper to be on the list with Mike Trout and Andrew McCutcheon? We did.
Statcast™ only had 8 players who met or exceeded the minimum criteria, and Ian Desmond is one of those 8 players. The reason Desi made this grouping is because Batting Average was not part of their criteria as it was replaced by “Batting exit velocity of 110 mph or more” and errors weren’t factored into the Fielding criteria.
Here is the Statcast™ “5 Tool” criteria:
Hitting: Batting exit velocity of ≥ 110 mph
Hitting for power: Home run distance of ≥ 425 feet
Fielding: Route efficiency of ≥ 98 percent
Throwing: Throws of ≥ 85 mph
Running: Top baserunning speed of ≥ 21 mph
Hitting criteria certainly doesn’t take Batting Average into consideration, hitting for power isn’t the # of home runs rather the distance, fielding doesn’t factor in the # of errors, throws don’t consider accuracy, and running doesn’t consider TOOTBLANS or stolen bases.
The Statcast™ “Five Tool Players”:
Mike Trout
Andrew McCutchen
Carlos Gomez
Yoenis Cespedes
Lorenzo Cain
Hunter Pence
Ian Desmond
Marcell Ozuna
Keep in mind the old criteria for what defined a “5 Tool” player, which lacked some objectivity in measuring arm strength and speed, was always debated to who those players were, and according to Wikipedia was defined as an MLB player who “excels at hitting for average, hitting for power, baserunning skills and speed, throwing ability, and fielding abilities”.
