Dustin Pedroia's 60 yard dash time?

[anonymousfan2008]

Can somebody help me with Pedroia's official 60 yard dash time? I am a firm believer that the 60 yard dash is only valuable to show straight line speed and nothing else. I realize that seems obvious, but we are still asked that time and asked to run it in every showcase. I have yet to see a player run a straight line 60 yard dash in a game. I can think of numerous players that did not necessarily run a good 60 but could play the heck out of the game. The 60 has a place but I personally think it is way overrated in the order of pure baseball priorities.

[gclbaseball1]

The 60 time is overrated!!!

[FLTiger]

Well, after last night he'll have all winter to improve on his 60 time!!! GO RAYS.

[Hometeam]

The 60 time is overrated!!!


Amen! This whole speed thing is overrated in baseball. Give me a kid who can hit and field the ball (in other words, good baseball skills) - not necessarily a track star. Hopefully, coaches are starting to figure this out. You DO need fast outfielders - and ones who can judge the ball coming off the bat, but what good is being fast if you can't get on base to begin with? The whole thing is stupid.

[IMHO]

The speed and power of the game increases at every level. Players must be able to get in position to make a play quicker at every level. unfortunately that means you must be able to move your feet quicker to make plays at the next level. You can compensate for a lack of foot speed by getting good jumps and taking good angles to balls but you still must be able to get your feet going quickly in order to get in position to make a play. Scouts must have something to measure that on because they certainly don't have time to travel all over to watch enough games of every player to judge whether they can in fact compensate for the lack of foot speed.

That being said I do have one major problem with the way the 60 time is used. D-1 coaches and scouts use it to eliminate players to watch at showcases. Run a bad 60 they won't even watch your other skills. That is when very good players get overlooked. Pedroia was not drafted out of high school. I bet his 60 time had alot to do with it. He was able to prove them wrong. That is also why pro scouts watch all levels of college ball not just D-1. There are players all over the place.

[anonymousfan2008]

That is my point exactly. The 60 is important to a point, but then you need to evaluate how does the kid play the game. Pete Rose is a great example. By today's standards he probably would have been overlooked. Speed absolutely helps you play the game better but if you have great instincts and a high baseball IQ you can create good jumps and put yourself into positions that make you look faster. I have heard the head of a showcase tell the kids,"if you can't run faster than 7.2 then don't run at all." That is bad advice. How can you improve if you don't know where you stand and how much you need to improve. 60 important? Yes, overrated, absolutely!

[Hometeam]

Also, I've seen kids who weren't necessarily the fastest running the 60, but they were VERY agile defensively and could cleanly field any ball that was hit to them. Their foot speed was very good where it counted the most - defensively. Also, you can still be a very good baserunner even if you're not the fastest.

Conversely, I've seen faster kids who weren't consistent hitters, made errors defensively, etc.

Some of these scouts/recruiters/coaches don't know how to pick the best baseball players - and often it shows up in their win/loss column.