Back in 2012, the BBC put up a neat little online app that said what Olympian you were most similar to in height and weight. Needless to say, I took advantage of the kindness of our friends across the pond by using it to compare MLB players to Olympians. Well, the BBC did it again, adding a age portion to it as well. So, after the jump, check out how some MLB players compare to Olympians.
Alex Rodriguez
A-Rod is ending his career (at least with the Yankees) tonight, so let’s start with him. B-Ref lists him at 6’3” and 230 lbs, and he was born on July 27, 1975. The BBC says that the most similar Olympian to A-Rod is Andrew Amonde, of the Kenyan rugby team.
Mike Trout
6’2”, 235 lbs. Born on August 7, 1991. The fact that his body is relatively close in height and weight to A-Rod means Trout gets similar results, but the slight differences and the massive age difference means that Trout’s most similar Olympian is a different rugby player: the USA’s Andrew Duratalo. His other two closest matches are in handball and hammer throw.
Bryce Harper
Standing 6’3” and at 215 lbs, Harper was born on Oct. 16 in 1992. Putting that in, and Harper’s closest match is South Africa’s Rocco van Rooyen, who will be doing javelin throw. The other close matches include a wrestler and a different javelin thrower.
Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro has over 3,000 hits and is generally awesome. 5’11”, 175 lbs, and born in October of 1973, who is Ichiro’s Olympic match? It’s Uruguayan tennis player Pablo Cuevas. Other matches include a runner and a golfer.
Madison Bumgarner
Madison Bumgarner has a reputation for being like somebody out of a folk tale. You half-expect him to show up with a blue ox whenever he has a start. Standing 6’5”, weighing 250 pounds, and born on August 1, 1989, MadBum’s Olympic match is Joe Joyce, a boxer for Britain. His other two nearest matches are handball players.
Chris Young
Chris Young is tall. The right handed pitcher stands 6’10” and played basketball at Princeton in addition to baseball. Weighing 255 lbs and born on 5-25-79, his matches are, not surprisingly, all basketball players, the closest being France’s Joffrey Lauvergne.
Jonathan Broxton
One of the heaviest men in baseball (285 pounds), standing 6’4” and born 6-16-1984, is matched up with Piotr Malachowski. He’s a Polish discus thrower. The two other matches are wrestlers.
Jose Altuve
Of course! The shortest man in baseball and possibly it’s greatest contact hitter since Ichiro, Altuve is matched with an eclectic group of people. His nearest match is Juan Ignacio Caceres, an Argentinean canoer. His other matches are a fencer and a shooter.
Bartolo Colon
Finally, we end with the most exciting athlete in the world. Standing 5’11”, weighing 285 lbs, born in May of 1973. The man in the Olympics most fitting the Bartolo ideal is Iurii Krakovetskii, a Kyrgyzstani judoka. The other two men who can match the bodily perfection of Bartolo are a weightlifter and a wrestler.
Pingback: WISDOM AND LINKS: The Meaning of Baseball in the Olympics - Hall of Very Good