This May Be the Key for Winning the Pitching WAR...

WAR is an acronym for Wins Above Replacement. WAR measures a baseball player's value in all facets of the game by deciphering how many more wins he's worth than a replacement-level player at his same position (e.g., a Minor League replacement or a readily available fill-in free agent).

Nine out of the top Ten (American Born) in Pitching WAR over the last decade have multi-sport backgrounds/in addition to playing baseball:

1. Justin Verlander- Basketball
2. Zach Greinke- Tennis, Golf, Basketball, also switch hit as a kid
3. Clayton Kershaw- Football
4. Cole Hamels- the only one I could not find without a multi-sport background
5. Max Sherzer- Football, Basketball
6. Chris Sale- Basketball
7. Jon Lester- Basketball, also played a great Centerfield
8. David Price- Basketball
9. Adam Wainwright- Football (Wide receiver and Kicker) 
10. Jacob DeGrom- Basketball. Also bats Left. Was not a full-time pitcher until his junior year in College.

The two foreign born pitchers in the top ten are Felix Hernandez who played basketball in High School and the legendary Bartolo Colon. Colon was likely too busy to play another sport because he worked full-time from ages 9-14, harvesting coffee beans and fruit. Colon credited his childhood job for developing his considerable strength.

Not only did these pitchers play other sports but they excelled at them. For example, Greinke routinely won tennis tournaments as a junior (in the tennis hotbed of Florida). He also excelled as a junior golfer but stopped playing after he was "skipped" ahead 3 levels and could no longer play with his friends. He switch hit in Little League and was primarily a hard-hitting short stop on his high-school baseball team. Greinke lead all Major Leagues pitchers in 2019 with 3 home-runs. Not to mention he's the best fielding pitcher in the sport, winning 6 consecutive Gold Glove awards.

The other take away from this list, these pitchers have all been remarkably durable. They have all pitched a very long time and have done so at an extremely high level.

A broad base of athleticism is essential to becoming an "elite" baseball player. And playing multiple sports is a great way to develop that athleticism.