Young Barry could def run, and of course a legend in the box But he only played CF as a rookie, and never played RF Van Slyke and Bobby Bo handled the more demanding OF positions in PITT This despite obviously having the legs to cover a lot of ground Hard to make the case as a true 5tool guy spending entire career in LF, mainly due to a weak arm for an OF Think Soto with very good speed 3 world-class tools
Yeah ... Kinda an oxymoron to say 'a gold glove left fielder' If the glove + arm were truly special, they wouldn't be in LF every day Generally, the worst OF in the lineup plays left
I've actually google searched it. He's a 4 tool player because his arm wasn't elite. But his 4 tools were world class. Hit for average, hit for power, had more walks than anyone, 7 gold gloves, and stole over 30 bases eight times in his career. I would take Bonds over almost any player in history, especially the one that took super soldier serum. The dude was scary AF.
Most unique offensive force I've ever seen Only dude teams were so scared to pitch to that they'd intentionally walk in a run with bases loaded Hard to deny he was elite as LF defensively, especially in his 20s Arguably best Def LF ever But again ... sort of a backhanded compliment ... tallest midget It was Bonds vs Griffey debate throughout the 90s as the best Bonds had the better eye and was faster Griffey had the edge with his glove and arm Power was about even Griffey was beloved bc he knew how to play the media/fan game perfectly Bonds was an Ahole disliked even by his own teammates In the end, Barroid's juicing taint the clearly superior career Griffey couldn't stay on the field in his 30s while Bonds became god-like well into his 40s
All that is required to be a "tool" is to do it an an above average level at the MLB level. Springers power, arm and footspeed are indisputably above average. Defensively he could adequately handle a premium defensive position, and was plus defensively in RF. If you want to get pedantic and say that doesn't count then OK, but saying Springer had anything less than 3 of the 5 tools is absurd. Most people would agree he had 4.
Y'all's tool debate is a bit mind boggling. Maybe just enjoy greatness? George was, and is still capable of, being a great player with a profound impact on the game. If y’all don’t see that, then I don’t know what you’ve been watching.
Springer was the heart and soul of the team. His personality just fit the team to a T. Here’s a kid who stutters who overcame it and in the biggest moments he took over the game and did amazing things! The Astros loosing him was a terrible loss and if they didn’t have young guys like Alvarez on a already stacked team his loss would be more evident.
According to Altuve, Jake Meyers is a 5-tool player. “He’s nasty,” Carlos Correa said following Meyers’ power-hitting display in Anaheim. “He’s a five-tool player,” Jose Altuve said Monday.
Barry Bonds was EXCEPTIONAL at every tool other than arm strength and even then, he had a very accurate arm… he was also an elite outfielder defensively… he made it look easy because he knew all the angles in the outfield and was great at reading the ball off the bat. Bonds was very fast and an elite base runner as well.
Not by anyone that knows what they are taking about. Anyone that called him a 5 tool player mistook 5 tool player for awesome or the best in baseball, not for what it actually is. Syd Bream scoring from second base says all you need to know a out Bonds “arm tool”. I think caring about someone’s arm in the modern day is slightly absurd. Snake had a much better characterization of what we should consider the tools in baseball. Also- let me throw my hat in the ring for hit tool being the most important tool. Brantley can play on any roster anywhere ever with what he’s doing this year- and he doesn’t hit HR’s anymore. Plenty of guys that are capable of hitting 30 or 40 homers are unplayable for many teams. Would you take prime Chris Carter on this team? Not only no but hell no. But Brantley hits 2nd every day, we pay him 16 million and nobody complains.
