Originally Posted by monkeystyxx
Favour ability = the 'Moneyball' method, looking for talent based on their actual production and ability now, projecting on from there how good they can become in the future.
Favour tools = the 'old school' method, looking at a guy's basic 'tools', the building blocks on which a baseball player is built. Their strength, speed, athleticism etc, projecting how they will turn into ability later on. They're not just looking for 'good' players, they're looking for guys who have what it takes to be huge. But in the process they'll miss perfectly good talent because they don't have the traditional 'tools'.
Generally speaking, Ability guys will find more 'average' talent, and a few really good guys. Whereas Tools guys will find more 'meh' players that never develop like they're expected to, but also the occasional megastar that ability guys wouldn't have found.
If you've got an athletic, strong guy who can't hit for toffee in college, ability guys won't be interested. But Tools guys will say "hang on a minute, give him a few years to develop and he could be great" - maybe he will, maybe he won't, that's down to destiny. Likewise, the Jose Altuve's of the world would be completely ignored by Tools guys, even though they're hitting over .300, because they don't 'look' like stars. Most Altuve's will go on to be mediocre AAA depth players, but a few of them will turn in to a big league star.
Basically, Ability guys find players with high floors but can't be too sure about their ceilings. Tools guys find guys with generally low floors, and huge ceilings. But not all of them will ever reach that ceiling.
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