*** Official Kansas City Royals @ Minnesota Twins Game Thread (6/10) ***

[Saul Good]

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.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

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.

Right.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

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.

Lots of athletic spaz out there.

[C3HIEF3S]

Is posting on CP a display of athleticism?

[BigCatDaddy]

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

[duncan_idaho]

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.

[srvy]

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

[alnorth]

Athleticism is traditionally comprised of strength, speed, and endurance. Maybe flexibility.

I've never really thought about hand/eye coordination, but on first impression I'm leaning towards no, because I would not say that the best Starcraft players in the world (usually Koreans who play video games 15 hours a day and never see sunlight) are "athletes". Hand/eye coordination is needed to be good at baseball, along with other non-athletic skills like the will to play through minor pains and not being discouraged by the inevitable slump, but I would not say that this skill, which is required, is an athletic skill.

[Great Expectations]

When I think of the best athletes I think of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Ken Griffey Jr., Ronaldo, etc. I do not think of track stars. Track stars often lack eye hand coordination. I think athletes have eye hand coordination and the ability to run/jump etc.