What does it take to become a pro athlete? (Split)

[Roy Hobbs]

I think a lot of people have the "I could have played in [MLB, the NBA, the NFL]" dream, but I think it's often due to underestimating how good pro athletes -- or even Division I athletes -- are.

Three examples. 

1.  My cousin (Jeff Locke) was one of the best baseball prospects to ever come out of New Hampshire.  He was named NH player of the year, had a career high school record of 37-2  with 444 strikeouts.  As a senior, he went 9-0 through 68 innings, with an earned run average of 0.40, eight complete games, 129 strikeouts, 22 hits and 12 walks.  He also hit over .400 in high school, with a lot of power.  His fate?  He was drafted 51st overall in the 2006 draft.  There were 50 athletes deemed to be better than him, when he was absolutely dominant.  Right now, he's struggling in the minors.

2.  Another family friend (Deron Quint) had 111 goals and 58 assists in 21 games in high school one season.  (Link).  He went on to make the NHL, the last pick in the first round.  He ended up making the NHL, but wasn't that great there; he's now playing in Germany.

3.  A guy from my high school, Jamie Cook, is the only person from Maine to be named back-to-back "athlete of the year" in the state.  He was amazing at both track and football, and got in to Penn State.  There, he won the Big Ten Decathlon title, and went to Nationals (no idea how he did).  However, as a football player, Penn State didn't have a spot for him, except deep on the depth chart at kicker.

In other words, just because you're a great athlete, doesn't mean you're major league material.  The guys who are flaming out, or never getting a chance at all, are guys being named the best athlete in their entire state.

[Boris Badenov]

This may be another thread, but the title made me think about the fact that becoming a professional athlete is some combination of athletic/mental talent and effort/practice.

Then I thought about Patrick O'Bryant.

So here's my question:

"In what sport is it easiest to become a professional at the highest level (MLB, NFL etc.) without exerting any effort, solely based on some unique athletic trait or ability?"

My first thought (with POB in mind) was the NBA without question - the big stiffs being the best example. I cannot imagine someone making the PGA tour, on the other hand, without incredible effort and devotion to the game.

What do you think?

[Roy Hobbs]

"In what sport is it easiest to become a professional at the highest level (MLB, NFL etc.) without exerting any effort, solely based on some unique athletic trait or ability?"

Sumo.

[Redz]

I don't understand what you are talking about.  How do you know for sure that a certain player is better than me?  Of course KG is better than me he is 6"11, I'm only 5'11.   Of course Paul is better than me.  That doesn't mean I'm not good enough to make the NBA.

Why are pro athletes so talented? Because they play the sport every day. They have been playing organized ball since they were 15 or even 10 years old.  They get paid to play.  It is their job.  They don't have to worry about working at a non-sport job to support thier lifestyle and their family because they can play sports and get paid.  They can practice and play all day long. All they have to do is play the sport, they don't have to work a 9 to 5 job and sit at an office all day long.

How do you know for certain what player is better than me.  I am 5'11 200lbs & very athletic.  I am basically Emmitt Smith size and very athletic. Have you ever seen me on the court with these guys? No.  So you don't know for sure.  You can only assume and speculate that a certain NBA player is better at basketball than me.

And what if a coach selected me to play on his team in HS.  And what if I started getting paid to play basketball.   Do you think I would improve as a player?

Of course pro atheltes are much more talented than most people.   I do not think it is 99.9%, more like 80%, because like I said if you are not getting paid to play basketball every day, how can you play basketball every day alongside the competition, teammates, & coaches that these guys work with on a regular basis? If your not a pro athlete, how much time can you really put into the sport and what will the talent level of the people around you be? You have to work a 9 to 5 non-sport job, how good can a person like that really be?

You're right.  I don't know it for sure.  For whatever reason you chose not to take the path that would give you the best opportunity to become an NBA player. 

But the point of my argument was to debunk the idea that because you could play hard for one game, or one season, if your livelihood wasn't as risk.  It's not a level playing field for your hypothetical, unless you place some current NBA players and put them in the same scenario.

I have a degree in broadcast journalism from an excellent school in that area.  I can listen to a news or sports show and tell you what's good and bad about it with a level of expertise.  I can honestly say that I could do a better job at it than many talents I hear on radio and see on TV.  What I didn't have was the competitive nature to battle through to make it to the level of making a living in that business.

The point is, there are a bunch of reasons why the people who are at the top level of any profession are there.  If I put my every energy into being a brain surgeon, I might be one today.  But I'm not.

In this case I do think you are selling short the amount of talent and the competitive nature of NBA players.  Of course, being 7'0" doesn't hurt either.

[wdleehi]

I could have been an NBA player.  I have all the moves needed to be an NBA C.


I just lack 1 foot and 4 inchs.

[cdif911]

two things to throw out here

1) the 1 in 100,000 stat for pro athletes is a little misleading - that's 3000 people - if we're talking the 4 major sports at the pro level, you've got (approx) 435 in the NBA, 1700 in the NFL, 800 in the NHL and and 725 in MLB, so we're closer to 4000 than 3000 already...

now lets take into account minor league players - we're adding thousands and thousands more... now women's pro sports, now pro sports like Lax and cycling and tennis... and you see its not really 1 in 100,000, maybe more like 1 in 30,000 are pro athletes (a math whiz can figure this out exactly)

but at these numbers, the average person STILL isn't going to be a pro just by playing more. sorry if you got cut from your freshman team - I got cut from freshman basketball (and I had played organized before, I just sucked, I can admit that). But if you really loved the game or had the talent, you'd play in a youth league or travel team or something, and work your way back.  There is such a thing as natural talent, and even that for most people will only take you so far.  

you're sort of making the same argument that if Tony Allen got the chance, he'd be as good as Paul Pierce, which as we all know, just isn't true...

Like others, I think your confidence is sort of a good trait, but be careful, because overestimating ourselves is known as narcissism, which can be dangerous (read the narcissism epidemic)

[cdif911]

I could have been an NBA player.  I have all the moves needed to be an NBA C.


I just lack 1 foot and 4 inchs.

its just because you don't believe in yourself, obviously...

you can do anything, just push really hard and you would have grown...

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't want to be harsh here, but let's look at the facts:

I tried out for the baseball team in my freshman year in HS and did not make the team.  . . . However when it came to hitting I got one chance to hit for 5 minutes against a pitching machine, not a real pitcher and missed every ball.

I could have tried out for the baseball team again my next three years in HS but I was still physically immature for my age and I didn't even try.

I mean, I don't want to come across as a jerk, but if you missed every ball from a pitching machine, and refused to even try out for your baseball team again after that, why do you think you have the natural talent and the competitive drive / instinct to be a pro athlete?  You then go on to say you could be hitting .270 with 23 home runs and 86 RBIs, which is basically legit starter territory in MLB.  Aren't you selling others short?

Every single guy who has ever made a minor league roster has an abundance of talent.  Only roughly 800 guys every year make the majors, and of those, very few put up the kind of numbers you're estimating.  Basically, you're putting yourself into the same category as probably the top 100 baseball players in the entire world.  Don't you think that's maybe a *little* overinflated, for a guy who has never played baseball past junior high?

[indeedproceed]

I don't understand what you are talking about.  How do you know for sure that a certain player is better than me?  Of course KG is better than me he is 6"11, I'm only 5'11.   Of course Paul is better than me.  That doesn't mean I'm not good enough to make the NBA.

I know for certain that there is not a NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, PBA, PGA, or member of the WCF (World Curling Federation) that you are better than at their prospective sport.

Maybe you could have been if you would have dedicated your life to one particular sport, or were ungodly talented at one particular sport (most of the time it takes both), but you didn't.

[Redz]

I could have been an NBA player.  I have all the moves needed to be an NBA C.


I just lack 1 foot and 4 inchs.

its just because you don't believe in yourself, obviously...

you can do anything, just push really hard and you would have grown...

simple solution



it's still not too late wdleehi...I'll take one wheel, who wants the other?

[Rondo2287]

I guess I dont get why people think that they have what it takes to be a pro baseball player.  In the wake of the steroid scandals in baseball the Mitchell Report revealed that not only the big name guys were taking roids but alot of fringe major league players were doing them also.   So basically there are handful of guys that have a great deal of god given talent at their sport, dedicate their whole life to it, use drugs to chemically enhance themselves to the point where they are barely human(Exageration) and still are barely good enough to stay in the league, but then there are people out there that think, "oh i can be as good as them"... Comon

[BigDanz2000]

Being an Umpire for baseball I see the different levels of talent on the field.  I umpire High School, Legion, Summer College leagues, and Mens leagues.  Let me tell you, If you think you could practice really hard right now for say 2 years and think you could step onto a MLB diamond and be, lets say, just a utility guy, you are wrong.  It is not possible.  

Being a Professional baseball player is Talent and you need alot of it.  The great pitchers in High School dominate mainly because of speed on their fastball.  The great pitchers in college dominate because of speed + movement and the great pitchers in Professional baseball dominate because of Speed, movement, and location.  

The great hitters always have good hand eye coordination and the ability to recognize their zone and the pitch coming at them.  The ability to react to a 95 mph fastball, I think you are taking for granted because of how frequently you see it and how often it is hit, but I can say with almost 100% certainty that with 2 years of continued practice that you would not be able to catch up to that pitch.  Lets say that you do finally get the hand eye coordination and muscle twitch to hit that pitch regularly, then you have to start to learn how to hit professional sliders, cutters, changeups, splitters, etc.  And believe me when I tell you this, all those pitches you see out in the school yard do not at all compare to what you is being thrown at the professional level. Even Low A ball would be a monumental struggle for you.

When I look at professional umpires on TV and compare it to what I do at a much lower level, I think that on TV their job does not look that hard.  They work a 4 man system where there is not that much movement, except for fly balls and low liners out to the outfield and rotating for the home plate umpire to the 3rd base bag and the trailing first base umpire for rare calls at home for them.  That is about it.  

I then come to my senses.  I would probably say on average I see fastballs in the 75-85 mph range in HS, 80-88 in Legion, and probably the same for the college summer leagues as Legion.  But you have that rare occasion where you get a big left handed pitcher who catches you off guard, like I did 2 summers back.  He threw 90-93 consistently with the usual left hand movement.  It was a struggle first 2 innings just getting used to the movement on his fastball at that speed.  So I could only imagine what a 98 mph fastball is like with even more movement.  

What I would say to you star if you really believe you could play pro baseball, give it a shot, it would never hurt.  Play in a summer league and get a feel for what it is like to play at a level of competition that you are not used to.  See how it goes, if you believe you are better then what you are competing against then try out for a pro team.  I am pretty sure there are local scouts who hold tryouts in your area.  

Good luck.

[PRIDE]

Pro athletes get where they are today because they have the talent and the drive to get them there. Michael Jordan was cut from his freshman HS basketball team. He didn't just decide not to try out again after that. He put in the work that made him who he is today. Star, you never became what you wanted to be or thought you could be because you quit on yourself. You didn't have the drive to keep going. You can say you never got the chance or politics kept you from getting a chance, but those are just excuses. If you want to play a sport, then you get out there and work hard to earn you spot. If you want something in the sports world you gotta get out there and take it. No one is going to hand you anything.

For anyone that thinks they could play a pro sport...you really don't understand how hard it is. You don't realize how FAST the NBA is. You don't know how hard it is to stand in the batters box and hit a 90 mph fastball. 90% of the population would have to get over the fear of it hitting you, let alone trying to make contact with the thing.

[indeedproceed]

I could have been an NBA player.  I have all the moves needed to be an NBA C.


I just lack 1 foot and 4 inchs.

its just because you don't believe in yourself, obviously...

you can do anything, just push really hard and you would have grown...

simple solution



it's still not too late wdleehi...I'll take one wheel, who wants the other?

Nice rack

[Ed Teach]

Baseball to me may be the sport with the biggest jump from high school to MLB.
I was a great high school baseball player.  But the summer of my junior year I attended a baseball camp at Miss State (Ron Polk's camp), that is where I learned I did not have what it took to make the next level.

The camp was geared toward players attmepting to be seen by college coaches, scouts, etc.  Until this camp I had handled 90 mph fastballs by one of the pitchers in our league, so I was pretty confident that I would be OK. 
The pitchers I saw there had wicked breaking balls, could change speeds, and even a had few additional mph on the fastball; and I couldn't hit.  The whole 2 weeks I struggled like I had never struggled playing ball.  I realized from talking to many of the beter hitters there, that I was not even begining to see the same things as they were.  They tried to teach me how to pick up the rotation of the ball leaving the pithers hand, to look for the location of the seams, and to work on where on my bat I was hitting the ball.
I am convinced that these guys must have better than 20-20 vision.  Because in my normal high school games I could survive by waiting for my pitch, not swinging at pitches I couldn't handle, not the case at the next level.  You must be able to hit any pitch, you can't hide your weaknesses.  Even the pitchers at the camp by the end of the 2 weeks figured out how to pitch me.  It was an extremly humbling experience.

I believe that most pro athletes have physical gifts that most of do not have.  There are definatly more people with the gifts than are actually pro athletes, I image that there are plently of guys with good enough vision and hand eye cordination to play pro ball, that are doing something different, they may be dentist.  You need both the gifts and the desire.