Expert: Tom Schott - 3/26/2008

Question
What is the average age of a player that makes it to the majors (big leagues) to stay? Basically, at what age does a player make it from the minors to the big leagues to stay for a significant amount of time. My friends and I are having an argument when is the prime of a baseball players career.

Thanks you for your help !

Answer
Ron,

 I am going to venture an educated guess on the average age a player arrives in the bigs to stay. because I cannot find it in my references right now. This would be between 24 and 25 for most players. I'm on more solid ground with the "prime" of a player's career. That is not when they come up, but rather between the ages of 28 and 31. Stats bear out that this is time of peak production for ballplayers. All bets are off, of course, for extraordinary or Hall of Fame type players. They start earlier, last longer, and remain productive longer than the ordinary mortals.