Crack of the Bat

By David Rawnsley

 

HOW TALL ARE PITCHERS?

 

I recently looked through all the Major League 40 man rosters focusing on pitchers and their listed heights.

 

First let me say that I firmly believe that with most pitchers "listed" and "actual" are two different things.  I think most people in general are inclined to fudge on their height or weight when they get a chance.  Take a look at your driver's license and see if you might be guilty.

 

Actually ascribing some significance to studying listed baseball heights probably doesn't have much real validity, especially if you are a young athlete looking into the future.  You're liable to think, "Hey, I'm 6-0 and looking at these MLB rosters, I'm pretty small in comparison."  That's not really the case regardless of what position you play.  There is a real difference between listed and actual heights and you can't forget it.

 

Fortunately, scouts who have been in Major League locker rooms, often as players, signed future big leaguers and who have tuned their senses of height and weight to a fine degree know the true story.

 

I remember about 5 years ago talking with a veteran scout by the name of Bob Oldis.  Oldis played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators as a back up catcher during a 7 year career between 1953 and 1963 and was the first player to greet Bill Mazeroski at home plate after the famous home run to win the 1960 World Series.

 

We were talking about players and sizes while at the Perfect Game facility in Iowa.  I mentioned something about my being 6-1 and actually closer to 6-1/2.  Oldis got a very serious look in his eye and said "No, you're 6-2".  I replied that unless I'd grown as an adult that I wasn't 6-2, but Oldis was insistent.  So we went back to a height chart on the back wall of the batting cages and, to my surprise, I was exactly 6-2.  I'd been wrong about my own height for 20 years and it took an experienced scout to set me straight.

 

My experience with the Houston Astros pretty much taught me that listed height wasn't either important or accurate.  Jeff Bagwell at 6-0 and Craig Biggio at 5-11 are a bit exaggerated.  Neither Mike Hampton or Billy Wagner's success nor stuff was exaggerated, although neither was anywhere close to 6-0.  Trading the 5-11 Kenny Lofton for the 6-4 Ed Taubensee was a mismatch.  But drafting the 5-10, 155 lb Roy Oswalt was sure a good idea.  Pete Harnisch and Mark Portugal were solid big league starters but weren't solid 6 footers, despite their listed size.

 

I once took one of our drafted players, a high school kid about 6-1 or 6-2, to a game to woo he and his family a bit.  We were at the batting cages watching the visiting Atlanta Braves take BP.  He was watching Lonnie Smith and Ron Gant take their cuts when he noted "Dang, I thought big leaguers were a lot bigger than that.  Maybe I do have a chance!"  Smith was a short 5-10 and Gant looked up to him.  The kid didn't make it because of lack of talent, not his size.

 

 

So when I looked at the 40 man rosters I looked with a cocked eye and a realistic perspective.

 

Especially when I saw that Mariano Rivera, who I met once and thought was barely 5-10 (he was certainly no taller than Craig Biggio, for instance) was listed at 6-2 on the Yankees 40 man roster. 

 

There are 436 Right Handed Pitchers listed on Major League 40 man rosters.  Here is the breakdown by listed height.  I have listed the percentage of each height out of the total as well for both RHP's and LHP's.

 

5-8:                              0

 

5-9:                              4

 

5-10:                            5

 

5-11:                            17   (5.9% under 6-0)

 

6-0:                              47    (10.8%)

 

6-1:                              52    (11.9%)

 

6-2:                              74    (16.9)

 

6-3:                              91    (20.8)

 

6-4:                              70    (16.0%)

 

6-5:                              42    (9.6%)

 

6-6+:                            34    (7.8%)

 

 

There are 160 Left Handed Pitchers listed on the Major League 40 man rosters.  There breakdown is as follows.

 

5-8:                              1

 

5-9:                              2

 

5-10:                            4

 

5-11:                            11    (11.8% under 6-0)

 

6-0:                              26    (16.2%)

 

6-1:                              27    (16.9%)

 

6-2:                              31    (19.3%)

 

6-3:                              25    (15.6%)

 

6-4:                              13    (8.1%)

 

6-5:                              11    (6.9%)

 

6-6+:                             9     (5.6%)

 

 

The numbers above clearly show that proportionately left handers are much more likely to be shorter than right handers.

 

I don't see any reason that this should be the case based on the talent that each respective pitcher brings to the mound.  Which leads to two possibilities.

 

a)      Right handers tend to exaggerate their heights as compared to left handers, under the assumption that an extra inch or two might help them.  Whereas a left hander is more likely to list an accurate height, under the feeling that with a left hander size doesn't really matter that much, it's stuff and the ability to get hitters out.

 

b)      Scouts actually do discriminate against shorter right handed pitchers and proportionately sign fewer of them than they do left handers of the same height.

 

I tend to think that the truth lies somewhere between A and B, above.  There is somewhat of a prejudice against the short right hander in scouting circles as compared to a short left hander.  But that the difference is exaggerated by the likelihood that far more right handers list themselves as being taller than they actually are.

 

This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.