The Dayton Game

[missionhockey21]

The Dayton Game

OK, so Royals general manager Dayton Moore showed me this fun little game you can play with your team. It begins with a scouting question: How many 60 tools does your team have?

I probably don’t need to explain that concept to the brilliant readership of this blog* but, I will. As you know, scouts judge players’ tools (hitting, power, speed, defense, arm) on that famed 20-80 scale, which as I understand it goes like this:

20 — Sucks beyond belief. Travis Hafner’s defense would be a 20. Barely knows which glove goes on which hand. Tony Pena Jr. is a 20 hitter. Bengie Molina is a 20 runner. Jason Kendall has 20 power. Andie McDowell is a 20 actress. Carrottop is a 20 comedian. Roger Clemens is a 20 liar. And so on.
30 — Just plain sucks. Johnny Damon’s arm might be a 30. It’s a 20 on the strength scale — it’s ASTONISHING how weak his arm is — but I’d say it’s a 30 overall because he is usually accurate with it at least.
40 — Doesn’t suck, but is still a tick below average. I’d say Kevin Youkilis is a 40 runner. Maybe Jermaine Dye. Maybe someone in between them.
50 — Exactly major league average. In 2005, Brandon Inge had almost the perfect 50 season. He hit .261/.330/.419 with 16 home runs, he stole seven bases and was caught six times, he had a .957 fielding percentage which was precisely the league average, and so on.
60 — All-Star Level. Placido Polanco is probably a 60 hitter. I think that Carlos Beltran — when healthy and engaged — has 60 power and 60 speed.
70 — Above All-Star Level. This is the superstar category. Lance Berkman has 70 power. Torii Hunter is (or certainly was — I don’t know if he’s fallen off at all) a 70 center fielder. Jose Reyes has 70 speed.
80 — Superhuman. There are scouts that just won’t give the 80 to anyone. An 80 would be — Albert Pujols or Ted Williams would be an 80 hitter. Mickey Mantle or Big Head Barry would have 80 power. Cool Papa Bell would be an 80 runner. Roberto may have had the only 80 outfield arm in baseball history (though Ellis Valentine should be heard). Ozzie at short, Mays in center, JB behind the plate are 80 defenders.

ANYWAY, to play the Dayton Game you simply go through your lineup and count how many 60 (or better) tools you have. Remember: We’re not talking here about 60 players — just tools. For instance, I think we would probably all agree that Juan Pierre is a well below average baseball player. But he certainly has 60 speed. So you would count that tool (however, if you call Juan a 60 hitter … you are disqualified from playing this game).

To give you an example, I’ll go through the Royals lineup because, as you will see, it won’t take long.

60 Tools on the Kansas City Royals

1. Joey Gathright’s speed.
2. Tony Pena’s defense.

And … no, that’s it. Two. That’s all. There are two All-Star tools on the Kansas City Royals. There isn’t anyone on the Royals who has All-Star caliber power. Could Alex Gordon develop that? Maybe. There isn’t an All-Star caliber hitter on the team — I think Billy Butler projects to be a 60 hitter, but he was just sent down to the minor leagues*, and my personal charge Mark Teahen is just not getting there. Nobody has a 60 arm on this team — Jose Guillen has a very strong arm, but it’s more erratic than Amy Winehouse. Teahen’s arm is accurate and probably above average, but not a 60. Nobody except Pena comes close to playing 60 defense in my mind — heck, Pena might not play 60 defense either, but he’s close enough and we need SOMETHING to talk about here. Mark Grudzielanek won a Gold Glove and has a good arm for a second baseman, but I don’t think he’s a 60 defender. Maybe a 55.

Nobody on the Royals except Gathright has 60 speed — in fact, I’m not sure there is anyone else on the team who has 50 speed. It’s funny, here in town people sometimes talk about David DeJesus running more — apparently because he’s a leadoff hitter — and they don’t take into account that he’s freaking slow*. I asked one baseball insider what it would take for DeJesus to steal more bases, and he said, “Move the bases closer together.” Mark Teahen is a superior base runner, and he cuts the bases well so that he’s above average first to third. But he’s not fast. Even the middle infielders on the Royals who look like they might be fast are, in fact, plodders — Tony Pena, Grud, Alberto Callaspo come to mind. It’s funny, just the other day we were trying to rate the Royals fastest runners, and here’s the Top 10 we came up with:

1. Joey Gathright.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Mark Teahen
7. Esteban German.
8. Miguel Olivo (yeah).
9.
10. David DeJesus or Alex Gordon — doesn’t matter.

Yes, we’re all over the map today, but the point is that when you play the Dayton Game with the Royals you come up with two All Star tools. On the whole team. I mean that’s really, really depressing. A lot of people — even people here in town — talk about how the 1985 Kansas City Royals were one of weakest hitting World Series champs (and, as far as talent, probably the fifth or sixth best Royals team ever). But play the Dayton Game with them, and you might be surprised.

60 Tools on the 1985 Kansas City Royals
1. Jim Sundberg’s defense.
2. Steve Balboni’s power.
3. Frank White’s defense.
4. George Brett’s hitting.
5. George Brett’s power.
6. George Brett’s defense (won a deserved Gold Glove that year)
7. Lonnie Smith’s speed.
8. Willie Wilson’s speed.
9. Willie Wilson’s defense (hard for me to say … I wasn’t watching them every day).

Point is that while they did finish 13th in the league in runs scored, that team was not without a few tools.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or energy to go through all the other teams — I figure you will do that with your favorite squad — but just for comparison’s sake, here’s a quick run through on the Boston Red Sox:

60 Tools on the Boston Red Sox
1. Jacob Ellsbury’s speed.
2. Dustin Pedroia’s hitting — OK, I’m basing this on last year’s .325/.380 line. I’m more than willing to knock him off the list.
3. Papi’s hitting.
4. Papi’s power.
5. MannyBManny’s hitting.
6. MannyBManny’s power.
7. MannyBManny’s comic prowess.
8. Kevin Youkilis’ hitting.
9. Kevin Youkilis’ defense (I don’t know if a first baseman can rate a 60 defensively, but he’s good)
10. J.D. Drew’s defense
11. Mike Lowell’s something or … yeah, there are a lot more on the Red Sox. So, you know what? Never mind, I’ve got a book to write, and I’m already depressed enough with the Royals.

» The Dayton Game Joe Posnanski

So, who has tools that you would rank 60 or higher in the majors?

60 - Adam Dunn's Plate Discipline (56 BB's - 63 SO's, leads the NL in BB's.)

[DirtyKash]

Hitting, power, speed, defense, arm are the criteria to go by. Do we not take into account pitching tools at all?

[Dry1313]

Yankees:
Posada 60 hitting
Giambi 60 power
Giambi 60 plate discipline
Cano 60 arm
Jeter 60 defense
Jeter 60 hitting
ARod 80 hitting
ARod 80 power
ARod 60 arm
Abreu 60 plate discipline
Melky 60 defense
Melky 60 arm
Johnny Damon 60 hitting
Hideki Matsui 60 hitting
Jose Molina 60 defense
Jose Molina 60 arm

[missionhockey21]

Hitting, power, speed, defense, arm are the criteria to go by. Do we not take into account pitching tools at all?

The 20-80 scale applies to pitching too. It is commonly used for both with scouts, but with this article it's about looking at your lineup to see how many 60+ tools you had. I just did one player because I am lazy.

Typically, with pitchers velocity, command and movement are looked at for each type of pitch. So like Johan Santana would likely have an 80 changeup overall according to many scouts (or he should.)

[Pronk48]

60- Victor Martinez's defense
60- Grady Sizemore's speed
60- Grady Sizemore's defense
60- Grady Sizemore's power

And I'd say right now, that's it.