Anyone who's listened to baseball for any length of time has surely heard the term, "five tool player." The general consensus these days is that the title is bestowed all too frequently—diluting its meaning—and that so-called five tool players are overvalued.

What exactly is a five tool player?

A player who excels at the following is considered to be in possession of the hallowed five tools:

1. Hitting for average
2. Hitting for power
3. Baserunning skills and speed
4. Throwing ability
5. Fielding abilities

Examples are a great way to provide further context for the term: Willie Mays, my childhood hero Andre "The Hawk" Dawson, Ken Griffey Jr., and the vilified Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, have all been called five tool players at one point or another in their careers.

I agree that the term shouldn't be overused, and that it has its limitations as well (not every five tool player winds up becoming a super star), but who are some current players in the majors that have the characteristics of a five tool player?

• Hanley Ramirez
• Ryan Braun
• Evan Longoria
• Dustin Pedroia

Do you agree that these guys have are five tool players? Who would you add to the list?

For more about the five tools, check out this article series from the Sporting News.

This post was added on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 11:22 am and is filed under The Dugout . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.