Baseball IQ

[planet planet]

Chris Carpenter - 130

[cardsfansince82]

Joe "baserunning outs" Thurman-50

[mikechamp]

George Kissell - infinity?

[Fat_Bulldog]

Garrett Stephenson-135

[mcgee51taguchi99]

It *seems* to me that players in general in the 80s and prior had better baseball IQ than they do today. Maybe fundamentals were just better then; perhaps we had less access to their dumb plays; I could have been too young to have really understood what I was watching at the time. I just can't think of a lot of players, specifically from the 80s, who simply got by on athleticism alone and had bad baseball IQ. I also don't recall many managers from the 80s who would put up with guys playing dumb baseball. Managers then just didn't give a [expletive] what anyone else thought about how they ran their teams and sure as hell didn't have to deal with the media crush that managers do now. And the players in general "policed" themselves more in past decades in that they held teammates accountable when they made dumb plays that cost their team.

[pioneer98]

I think this is something that can be improved on over time with experience.

Lance Berkman - 115
Chris Duncan - 90
Jim Edmonds - 125
Jaime Garcia - 90
Jon Jay - 95
Matt Morris - 105
Julian Tavares - 80
Edgar Renteria - 105
Ray Lankford - 95

[heyzeus]

Pujols. 135.

[jim]

It *seems* to me that players in general in the 80s and prior had better baseball IQ than they do today. Maybe fundamentals were just better then; perhaps we had less access to their dumb plays; I could have been too young to have really understood what I was watching at the time. I just can't think of a lot of players, specifically from the 80s, who simply got by on athleticism alone and had bad baseball IQ. I also don't recall many managers from the 80s who would put up with guys playing dumb baseball. Managers then just didn't give a [expletive] what anyone else thought about how they ran their teams and sure as hell didn't have to deal with the media crush that managers do now. And the players in general "policed" themselves more in past decades in that they held teammates accountable when they made dumb plays that cost their team.

I don't think there is any doubt that the game is shifted a little bit more toward the pure athleticism, and what you are seeing probably is true. And managers today have to put up with more today than managers did 30 years ago. To your point a little bit - teams used to take a team infield 30 years ago or so. Whitey's teams did it, regularly. I noticed when I was in the D-Backs clubhouse on a tour there was a schedule of when teams took BP/Infield, and the infield time was scheduled for 15 minutes for each team after BP. You never see teams taking that, ever. I'm not saying players don't work because they do, if you get there early you do still see guys working on fundamentals. But I'm a big believer in taking a regular team infield, it tops off the mechanical work with a little bit of realism. And, I think a well performed infield is not only entertaining to watch but it's fun for the players, and gets them in that right frame of mind. You get that ball popping around and the coaches chattering baseball talk (Hey hop, atta' boy, go 1 and cover and around the horn and here we go hey hop!). Old fashioned maybe, but I will tell you that helps work on fundamentals and puts a hop in your step when done correctly.

[lukethedrifter]

I would think David Eckstein would rank fairly high - 120 or so. Made a little bit of talent go a real long way.

No doubt, good call. I'm beginning to think Kozma is in the 90 range - not Colby bad but I'm starting to wonder.

Another very smart ballplayer was Tom Herr - give him a 120.

If you've heard him interviewed it's got to color your impression of any sort of smarts he had.

As far as 80s guys, Lonnie Smith seemed to be a guy who got by mostly on (clumsy?) athleticism.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Thler 45