Baseball fans are always looking for a new explanation as to why their favorite players are slumping. He’s banged up! He’s not seeing the ball right. Or maybe he’s not playing within himself, whatever that means. But new research suggests that a player’s natural sleep preference may affect whether they play better in day or night games.

Studying two seasons worth of statistics from 16 pro baseball players that agreed to be questioned, researchers at Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Virginia found that those who identified as “morning types” had a batting average eight points higher (.267 to .259) than those who were labeled as “evening types,” in games that had a starting time of before 2 p.m. However, evening types hit better in games that started between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. (.261 to .252). For games starting later than that, evening types increased their batting average differential to 54 points (.306 to .252), although this only happens in case of rain delays, so the total sampling (750 innings) was extremely limiting.

There are some other caveats to consider. First, researchers only questioned and studied data from 16 baseball players. That’s an extremely small sample size for any study, and any outliers that may have stumbled into this group would have a greater effect on the overall conclusions. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be hard to increase the player pool by 10-fold. The stats are there ready to be analyzed; you just have to survey the players and find out how each should be classified.

“Our data, though not statistically significant due to low subject numbers, clearly shows a trend toward morning-type batters hitting progressively worse as the day becomes later,” said lead author Chris Winter in a statement.

Secondly, the only other sport that could even be conceivably relevant to these factors is NFL football, which plays Sunday games at either 1, 4, or 8 p.m. Eastern time, so it has practically no implications for hockey, basketball or soccer, which all experience relatively static and typical start times. (Although, long-distance running might be another potential stopping point for the authors.)

“Currently, selecting a player for a game situation usually involves factors such as handedness, rest, and possibly previous success against a certain team,” Winter said. “Now, the time of day in which the game is occurring and a player’s chronotype might be a wise factor to take into account.”

But if more comprehensive research does determine sleep preference to be a real cause for why some athletes do better in day games, it could just end up one more post-game cliche to reporters for when he doesn’t come through in the clutch. I didn’t get enough sleep last night!

Yawn.

Photo: Flickr/x_brian_x, CC