Perhaps the greatest compliment a baseball player can ever receive is being deemed a five-tool player. While incredibly rare, the five-tool player has everything a scout looks for: the ability to hit for contact, for power, plus speed, strong arm, and can field his position.
Nowadays, the number of tools talent evaluators look for have are constantly expanding. On top of the five core skills, they now also look for durability, baseball IQ, body type, plate discipline, and so on. Ronald Acuna and Mike Trout are often both regarded as possessing some of the largest tool boxes in the game today.
It got us thinking: what if we could choose certain intangibles from different stars around Major League Baseball to create one ultimate super player? I surveyed the CBS Sports MLB staff to find out what their ultimate player might look like, asking them to select certain qualities only from active players. The qualities they voted on were: hitting, power, plate discipline, speed, fielding, arm strength, body type, and IQ.
I initially aimed to assess and create a consensus ultimate player. But, our responses varied so greatly that it made it rather difficult to construct just one super player. For that reason, I've organized each of the responses by writer, including the amount of votes each players' tool received.
Dayn Perry | Mike Axisa | R.J. Anderson | Matt Snyder | Katherine Acquavella | Danny Vietti | |
Hitting | Jose Altuve | Christian Yelich | Christian Yelich | Anthony Rendon | Mike Trout | Mike Trout |
Power | Aaron Judge | Joey Gallo | Joey Gallo | Giancarlo Stanton | Christian Yelich | Joey Gallo |
Plate Discipline | Mike Trout | Mike Trout | Joey Votto | Joey Votto | Joey Votto | Joey Votto |
Speed | Byron Buxton | Byron Buxton | Byron Buxton | Terrance Gore | Ronald Acuna Jr. | Billy Hamilton |
Fielding | Andrelton Simmons | Matt Chapman | Javier Baez | Andrelton Simmons | Andrelton Simmons | Andrelton Simmons |
Arm Strength | Ramon Laureano | Aaron Judge | Ramon Laureano | Hunter Renfoe | Ramon Laureano | Ramon Laureano |
Body Type | Michael Lorenzen | Yandy Díaz | Nolan Arenado | Aroldis Chapman | Paul Goldschmidt | Giancarlo Stanton |
Baseball IQ | Yadier Molina | Mookie Betts | Marcus Semien | Javier Baez | Yadier Molina | Yadier Molina |
Honorable Mention: Freddie Freeman (plate discipline), Trea Turner (speed), Yoenis Céspedes (arm strength), Kyle Hendricks (baseball IQ),
Key Takeaways
° Joey Votto received four of the six votes for plate discipline -- much of that attributed to the five times he has led the league in base on balls and seven times he led in OBP.
° The fleet-footed Byron Buxton took control of the speed category with three votes. Buxton ranked tied for second in sprint speed last season (3.74 MPH) behind only the Royals' Adalberto Mondesí, per MLB.com.
° Four-time Gold Glove shortstop Andrelton Simmons and A's center fielder Ramón Laureano stole the spotlight for the two defensive categories. Laureano has already tallied 19 outfield assists despite making his debut in August 2018.