Marcus was fast. That was obvious to the scouts who watched him sprint in high school track meets across Florida. But when it came time for the MLB draft, that speed didn't seem to matter much — and Marcus ended up in the minor leagues without a signing bonus.
His story might sound familiar to thousands of young athletes. But a new study from the University of Florida suggests there's something to that track speed after all — and MLB teams may be overlooking a real competitive advantage by dismissing athletes with track backgrounds.
Researchers at UF found that baseball players who ran high school track performed better at the professional level than those who specialized solely in baseball. The team, led by Tiberiu Ungureanu, Jason Sigler, and Zeynep Yavic, combined decades of detailed player records with nearly 97,000 historical survey responses originally collected by historian William Weiss. The surveys asked a simple but powerful question: which sports did these players participate in during high school?
The findings point to specific advantages. Track appears to develop speed, explosiveness, and timing — skills that translate directly to success in baseball, particularly in baserunning and fielding. Other sports, such as basketball or football, did not show the same consistent benefit. "Multisport participation isn't a one-size-fits-all answer," said Chris McLeod, Ph.D., an associate professor in UF's Department of Sport Management. "It depends on whether the skills from one sport cross over to another. Other sports do not consistently relate to performance improvement for baseball players like track does."
To rule out the possibility that naturally faster athletes simply chose track more often, the researchers used a statistical method called Coarsened Exact Matching. They compared players with similar physical characteristics, such as height and weight. Even after matching players on those factors, track participation remained linked to better performance.
Yet despite this measurable edge, MLB teams do not appear to value track experience when drafting players or offering signing bonuses. Analysis of previously unexamined scouting reports showed limited mention of track backgrounds or even negative references to track as a distraction from baseball. Players with track experience were not rated higher by scouts, despite their later success.
The implications extend beyond professional scouting. For families navigating youth sports, the research offers evidence against early specialization — a trend that has grown as travel teams and year-round training programs become more common. "There's a lot of anxiety among parents about making the 'right' choice for their child's future," McLeod said. "Our study is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that specializing early in baseball alone does not necessarily lead to better outcomes."
For MLB organizations, the takeaway is straightforward: better use of available information could translate into more wins. "For teams, this is about identifying undervalued talent," McLeod said. "For athletes and families, it's about making informed decisions. And for researchers, it shows how much we can learn when we combine new data with long-term performance records."