The Best Pitcher in Baseball is an ENTP

As an ENTP, I take some pride in claiming the best pitcher in baseball - Tim Lincecum. Described as a "math geek", "having a little rain main in him", and being a "goofy" voice impersonator, he's looks and talks like any other ENTP. And he's unorthodox, from his delivery to the way he only ices when hurt.

Baseball ENTPs are about results, not looking smooth. Rob Dibble, Dennis Eckersely, Johnny Damon, Kevin Youkilis, and Lincecum have all brought goofy stances and pitching motions. Curt Schilling's motion was reasonably subdued for an ENTP, but he made up for it with his hyper-opinionated ENTP mouth.

This 2008 Seattle Times article is filled with ENTPisms about Lincecum. Some of my favorites "It's one of my little mannerisms I do, outside of what other people do" (referring to eating while squatting), "I don't know, maybe I'm just a little weird".

Jason Campbell - a "J" Quaterback

One of the points Jonathan Niednagel has often made is that players with a "J" preference make poor quarterbacks because of their limited spatial awareness, and reduced ability to make spontaneous adjustments. Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell has always struck me as such, fairly rigid in his delivery, and often missing open men downfield.

Mike Shanahan clearly recognized Campbell was not going to bring him another. And even though ESFP Donovan McNabb is one letter off from Niednagel's ESTP ideal, he has often succeeded without a superstar group of receivers.

SPs Dominate Hitting?

Jonathan Neidnagel claims that many of the best hitters in baseball history, like George Brett and Ted Williams, were ISTPs, while an ESFP like Frank Thomas is a great power hitter because the SFs have the best gross motor skills. Additionally, he claims many of the best players across the board are "P"s, because "J"s endurance skills lead them to sports like long distance running, and that you need split second decision making to complete a pass in football, or make a decision about swinging at a baseball heading towards you at 90 mph.

By this reasoning, someone like Casey Kotchman should be xSTP, even though he's not an all-star player. He walks nearly as much as he strikes out, but doesn't have the power or speed to be an elite hitter. He survives with his ability to make contact. Jacoby Ellsbury I'd guess by this reasoning is an ISFP, quiet but with great motor skills, while Niednagel types power hitting David Ortiz as an ESFP.

This all suggest that a disproportionate amount of hitters are xSPs. There are plenty of "J" pitchers, where decision making happens over the 10-20 seconds before the pitch, not the 1/10th of a second after its thrown. There are also plenty of "N" pitchers, where you don't have to be tuned in to each split second to make the right pitch selection.

Something I'll be looking to as I watch the new season. As valuable as Niednagel's insights are, I often find that he can clearly mistype non-athletes. Nonetheless, having reliable ways to identify type could be of great use in coaching younger baseball players, who get flooded with mechanical recommendations from parents and coaches, many of which are probably unhelpful.