Quote:
Originally Posted by HometownHero
He did take testosterone but we have no idea when he started since he came up clean in all tests before the one he got busted on. But his last game he played was 3 days after his 28th birthday so starting to come into his own as a play at 26 and a half when he was in KC is a somewhat natural evolution for a player's development.
No doubt taking stuff helps your get stronger but its not like he's a big power hitter, the year he got popped he was hitting a HR one every 41.73 AB and 4 of the 11 HR came in the 3 of the NL's better HR parks in Phoenix, Denver and Philadelphia. In fact in those 3 parks he hit 27-for-56 with 12 XBH leaving just 34 XBH in the other 403 AB this year.
In places considered pitchers parks he didn't do hardly any XBH damage so its clear he was taking the wrong stuff to add power to his game if that was his goal. If taking testosterone could get you singles and a spike in BABIP then everyone would take it and tons of tons of minor league players would get popped for it.
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I think you are missing the point a bit about what PEDs like Testosterone or Anabolic Steroids actually do for an athlete. They are not miracle drugs where you inject yourself and sit on the couch eating potato chips watching your muscles grow, get up and start tearing phonebooks in half. These drugs work because they help guys work out harder, longer and more frequently. So, yes, this can certainly help a player get in the gym, build strength and muscle mass to hit home runs. However, if this were the only positive aspect, then why would pitchers take them? Building bulk would actually be counter productive. The key is recovery.
Let's look at the difference between Melky's .274 AVG season and his .346 AVG season... the difference is less than 1 hit per game, 3 hits every 5 games to be exact. So, back to the point. A "natural" player is going to get fatigued during an extra inning game or a double header or a day game after a night game, where a guy using PEDs may not feel that fatigue. So, while he may not be jacking home runs out of the park, in that last couple ABs of these "fatiguing" situations the "natural" player may not be as fast with his hands and miss the barrel on his swing or try and cheat to catch up to a hittable fastball and get fooled badly on an offspeed pitch. Meanwhile, the player on the PEDs is still sharp and doesn't miss the barrel or get fooled on that offspeed pitch so he picks up a few extra hits a week.
I realize that everything I've said here seems like a whole lot of anecdotal mumbo jumbo so I understand if you disagree because there is no tangible things to grab onto but I truly believe the effect of PEDs goes far beyond the home run stat