I'm still not sure if you're trolling, but your high school team is kind of irrelevant. I don't think you realize just how good even the "shitty" players are at the MLB level.

OK, you're trolling. Or just a huge moron.

Once again, Im talking about sheer athleticism. I think you guys have trouble reading or something. Id be willing to bet lots of money that 50% of all 31 year olds on Chiefsplanet are more athletic than Billy freaking Butler. In fact, theres literature out there that hes the slowest runner un MLB from home plate to 1B. Go film a video of yourself running to first, you will be faster than Billy Butler. Being athletic = quickness, vertical leap, change of direction/agility, NATURAL strength. Thats it.

Not trying to be mean but your made up criteria is far too narrow and is honestly just pretty ignorant.

Can we both agree that basketball is an "athletic" sport? What are the skills required to be a good shooter? To make a bounce pass in traffic? To dribble with both hands? Similar to those you dismiss in the quote above. Being athletic is more than running and jumping.

This has become a debate over whether or not athleticism and coordination are the same thing. They overlap, but they are distinct traits.

Billy Butler is an average athlete who happens to be incredibly coordinated.

It is not. Shooting has nothing to do with athleticism. Nothing.

Right.

It is not. Is being good at Call of Duty or Counterstrike being athletic? Of course not.

Is posting on CP a display of athleticism?

I played golf in colleg, Division 2. Requires almost no athleticism albeit some. The kid on our team that hit the ball the furthest was the biggest dork alive. Couldnt get net on a basketball hoop, was the slowest kid in the team. The best athlete on the team also had a scholly to play football in college as well, he was just pretty short. He only hit 240. While I think athleticism does translate to hitting a golf ball further, you can see that it doesnt always matter

Lots of athletic spaz out there.

I always felt ping pong players were the greatest athletesin the world.

I'll agree there are certain positions in baseball that don't require a ton of athleticism to play well. 1B. DH. And at P, you can get away with not being really athletic if you're a freak of nature. Teams tend to look for more athletic guys on the hill, though, because it helps with repeating deliveries and etc.

But try playing MI, or 3B, or any of the OF spots well. You need to be really athletic to do so in the major leagues. For those IF spots, great quickness and first two steps are a must. That's athletic ability. Speed helps. That's athletic ability. Throwing arm, again, athletic ability. There's a ton of quick twitch that's required on the IF.

In the OF, reading the ball off the bat and taking good routes are skills that can be taught. Speed and throwing ability cannot. And...you'll notice the best OF are the guys with a really quick first few steps. That's athletic ability as well.

And as for catcher, it requires a ton of quickness/endurance/throwing ability as well. You can put a fat guy back there to "hide" him, but it's going to hurt you a lot defensively.

Pablo Sandoval is a perfect example of an athletic fat guy IMHO. Billy Butler a coordinated spaz.