Pujols 600 Home runs!

[bn2cardz]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I would say his best 6 years was between 33 and 38 with his best year at age 37. Just my opinion using old time stats as I don't know squat about the metrics stuff.

The newer metrics give you a better idea how a player did against other players playing at the same time.

For instance between 1984-1987 Gwynn had 29 more hits than the highest ranked guys combined in the span. Between 1994-1997 he had 38 less than the highest ranked guys combined in the span. In 1997

You stated his age 37 year was his best year. Metrics show it was his age 27 year. Dig deeper and you would see that in 1997 (age 37) he had a BA of .372, impressive, but only .006 higher than the next guy behind him. Yet in 1987 (age 27) when he had a lower average of .370 this out ranked the next guy behind him by 0.032.
Here are other comparisons of the two years:
1987 - 2nd OBP, 5th OPS, 3rd Adjusted OPS+
1997 - 9th OBP, 7th OPS, 6th in OPS+
So in comparison in the league in Batting he actually wasn't quite as good. WAR just gives us a quick glimpse of this without having to dig into it all.

So knowing this, of the top 5 WAR seasons only one is from when he was older than 30 and that is age 31 for his 3rd highest ranked WAR season. Yet of the top 5 WAR years for Willie Mays 4 of them are after the age of 30 (31-34). So there is certainly a case for players getting better in their 30s.