Tall boys

The Blue Jays' 45th-round pick in the 2011 MLB Draft is John Coy, a 6-foot-8 first baseman!

While he's obviously a longshot, this got me wondering about the tallest MLB players. We had some discussion about tall pitchers when we signed Jon Rauch, but what about position players (ie, non-pitchers)?

If Coy ever makes it to the big leagues, he would tie the record currently set by Tony Clark as best I can tell. (Anyone got a reliable place to search MLB players by height?)

In April, Bill over at The Platoon Advantage put together a list of what he called The All-Tall Guys Team with the following criteria:

They must have played at least 500 games at the position in question -- or 1000 innings for starting pitchers, 350 for relievers -- and in the case of a tie (which is frequent), I generally just picked the better player.

And here's the team he came up with:

via The Platoon Advantage

It's noteworthy that of the 13 players on his All-Tall Guys Team, five have played for the Blue Jays - Troy Glaus (6'5), Dave Winfield (6'6), Frank Thomas (6'5), Jon Rauch (6'10) and Graeme Lloyd (6'8).

Another contender for this best-of list in my opinion, Dave Parker (6'5), also played for the Jays. And if you were building out the pitching staff, another ex-Jay, Mark Hendrickson (6'9) might be next up for a spot.

Height is interesting on the position player side as some of the tall guys here are at slightly less rarified heights, though still tall nonetheless. There's also sometimes a difference between perception or memory and reality.

While I remember Cal Ripken as a big shortstop, I'm surprised that he's only an inch shorter than Dave Parker, who I really have this impression of, rightly or wrongly, as a giant among men in his day.

I've never forgotten seeing then Angels twin towers Parker and Dave Winfield walking together in Toronto in 1991, as they lumbered up the hill from the underground garage under the SkyDome. It was an imposing sight.

Mark McGwire (6'5) was another one that I always remember as he passed me in the corridor under Exhibition Stadium. I used be around Tom Henke (6'5) all the time, but somehow McGwire left more of an impression.

Can only imagine what it's like seeing Rauch up close, who's got 5 inches and 75 pounds on McGwire/Henke.

(Note that all heights quoted - mine and from The Platoon Advantage - are those from Baseball-Reference.)