Eye Color: The New Market Inefficiency

Josh Hamilton breaks the news:

When it comes to hitting, it’s been night and day for Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton this season — and the reigning American League MVP has a theory as to why.

He has blue eyes.

Under the sun, Hamilton’s numbers are dim. He is batting .122 (6-or-49) with no home runs, four RBIs and eight walks. He also has 17 strikeouts and a .429 OPS.

At night, it’s a different story. Hamilton is hitting .374 (41-for-109) with six home runs, 28 RBIs, seven walks and a 1.076 OPS. And he only has 14 strikeouts while playing under the lights.

“I ask guys all the time,” Hamilton told ESPN 103.3 FM’s Bryan Dolgin when asked if he had any theories to his drastic splits. “Guys with blue eyes, brown eyes, whatever … and guys with blue eyes have a tough time.”

This “blue eyes can’t hit during the day” idea actually confirms part of a theory of mine that I’ve had for a long time: eye color is the new market inefficiency. Pretty soon, I think we can be sure that managers will be implementing as many platoons based on eye color as they do on handedness. Blue-eyed players will sit during day games, and maybe brown-eyed players will sit on days beginning with the letter “T,” and maybe green-eyed players will be benched when the wind is blowing faster than 15 miles per hour. It’s science, after all.