Old Player Skills: Bill James' Concept Options

[Todd Benzinger]

The phrase "old player skills" keeps popping up on SoSH, and the way it is being used here and around the internet is often misleading or confused. Sorry to be pedantic, but it is a useful/ intriguing concept that is being rendered meaningless by misapplication.

The concept is that YOUNG players who set out with the skillset of an (effective) old player are likely to decline SOMEWHAT faster than young players with young player skills.

The "old player skillset" is: power, walks, low average, lack of speed. It does not involve defense; as a young player, as James points out, Tom Brunansky, the poster boy for the concept, was a very good defensive player.

Hence, Trot Nixon, Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell don't really have "old player skills." They already hit for average, and aren't overly dependent on the HR. Perhaps Ortiz could be put in the category, although he hasn't really been a low average hitter. Adam Dunn is probably the current poster boy for the young player with the old player skill set. What James observstion tells you, though, is that you don't want to gamble on Dunn in his mid to late 30s--so even if he follows the pattern he's got 5 years or so of peak play left.

Jason Giambi did not have "old player skills" when YOUNG, he developed them as he aged. Having old player skills when you are old is not a sign of anything, it's normal.

James gives a useful brief overview of the concept in the New Historical Baseball Abstract in the entry for Tom Brunansky. The page is avail for reading on google books, although you need a google/gmail account to read it:

James' Definition (Brunansky entry)

Bruno's Stats via BB Ref