Each Philadelphia Phillies Player’s Greatest Tool from 2012
October 12, 2012 by Greg Pinto
Filed under Fan News
Even in a down season, professional baseball players typically excel in at least one area of their game. That’s one of the things that I personally enjoy about baseball: The fact that if you fail in one area, you have an opportunity to redeem yourself in another.
The Philadelphia Phillies had a down season. This was a team with an A-list roster and World Series expectations that are now watching postseason baseball from its couches.
But held within that poor season were a number of great performances. That’s part of what makes these players professionals—the ability to excel in at least one area of their game, even in an otherwise disappointing season.
Baseball scouts like to break a player’s game down into “tools.” For the sake of this slideshow, we’ll be discussing two different types of players.
Positional players will be broken down into the popular “five tools:” The ability to hit for contact, the ability to hit for power, defense, speed and arm strength.
For pitchers, we will discuss their best “tool” as their best pitch.
So what tool did each player use best in 2012? Time to find out.
Resources: FanGraphs and BrooksBaseball