Theory 2 on Sean Burroughs

Theory 2: Early Maturity Factor

Remember back in junior high when only one or two kids had went through their growth spurt? Even though these kids may not have been much of an athlete beforehand, these early spurters suddenly had a huge advantage compared to their peers in sports like basketball. Until everybody had their growth spurt these kids had the height advantage and could dominate. However, whenever their height advantage was gone usually these kids weren't as good as everybody else because they never learned how to do correctly certain aspects of the game like jumping for rebounds. So an early growth spurt in basketball could be destructive if the person can't maintain the height advantage. (by say growing to 6 feet 10 or something.)

Baseball is similar in that an earlier developed body can allow a player to develop power and bat speed at an earlier age. This very well may explain Sean Burroughs's failure in the major leagues as he was an early spurter. When Sean Burroughs was 12 years old he was the star of the Little League World Series, and was probably the best 12 year old baseball player at that time. Unfortunately for Sean his body had already gone through puberty and he was probably as developed as most 15 or 16 year olds. He really was a man among boys.

Would you believe in the 58 years the of Little League World Series has been around only 29 have made it to the major leagues? Besides that Sean Burroughs is already one of the most successful ones to have graduated. Sounds like Little League success usually will develop into major league failure.

Most major leaguers hit their peak around 26-29, when their skill level playing the game is developed enough to meet their best physical shape. With Burroughs you really have a double whammy. A) He matured earlier so his physical peak was probably at a younger age then normal and B) Skills develop with time playing the game, (I'm not talking about skills like walks) Burroughs had been playing for years at a high level and probably has reached his maximum level of playing the game years before most players do. If A & B are both true then Burroughs probably reached his peak around 22 or so which kind of follows his trend he has displayed.

One last thing that might have happened is that since Burroughs developed earlier then most players he just was able to coast during his high school and minor league careers with his naturally developed talent. This kindof goes with my first theory as his natural talent might have been good enough to make it to the majors no problem but now that he is up against the best players in the world he is actually going to have to adapt. Like the early growth spurter in junior high basketball, Sean just didn't learn to play baseball the best way possible for him and now that everyone has caught up with him he has to adapt or he won't ever be anything special.