The Athleticism of Willie Calhoun

Athleticism is a tool that is often misunderstood based on a player’s speed, build, and weight. While those are important to note in an overall view of athleticism, they aren’t the only key factors in determining whether or not a player is a quality athlete. It’s important to look beyond these easily identifiable traits in order to give a more accurate projection of what a player is and can be.

Willie Calhoun is regularly graded as a questionable athlete due to lack of foot speed and his body, but is that an accurate assessment? What kind of athlete is Willie Calhoun and how important is athleticism for a baseball player?

Athleticism is one name for a bundle of key traits that basically describe how well a player moves. It’s easy to look at a body and 40-yard times and “quantify” athleticism, but neither of those things give us enough data to accurately project a baseball player. The things often overlooked by non-trained evaluators are often the most important pieces to building a projection of a young player. While Calhoun lacks some of the more traditionally accepted building blocks of athleticism, he is elite in others that regularly translate into a quality baseball player.

The first—and arguably most important—is Calhoun’s body control. Calhoun has elite coordination which allows him move comfortably and consistently in various ways. As a hitter, he has the natural feel and understanding of how to get the barrel of the bat on the same plane as the ball, regardless of the location. As long as he recognizes the pitch, he’s able to make the necessary body adjustment without a conscious thought. When he is fooled, he immediately is able to adjust his body’s movement to compensate.

Calhoun is also wickedly quick and regularly gives me flashbacks of Prince Fielder’s elite quickness despite an un-athletic looking frame. Once Calhoun has made a decision in the plate or in the field, his hips and hands explode towards their task. Calhoun is easily capable of turning on high velocity inside, due to how quickly he can get his bat to the point of optimal contact with plus bat speed. His quick movement off the block will help in left field more and more as his instincts improve with repetition.

When Willie’s body control and quickness are combined with a consistently sound swing, it creates an interesting profile of a player with the potential for an elite hit tool, depending on how well he can recognize MLB quality pitching. When added to his plus raw power and an average walk rate despite an aggressive approach, Calhoun could end up as a top 25 hitter.

Calhoun’s strong points translate very well at the plate, but are less impactful in the field. While his quickness and body control do factor in, his slow foot speed will likely limit his range enough to put a fringe-average ceiling on his defense and base running. It’s not impossible for him to be an average left fielder, but he would need to utilize his instincts and reactions to their fullest in order to make it there.

Despite the defense and base running, Calhoun is one of the most exciting young players in baseball, due to his tremendous upside as a hitter. Calhoun currently projects as an above-average regular and could be better (or worse) based on how well he handles MLB pitching. As a bonus, Calhoun plays with fire, swagger, and a desperate need to destroy a pitcher’s hopes and dreams. Players like Willie Calhoun break the mold in more ways than one and watching him is truly a treat.