What if you could predict how well your favorite baseball player will bat based on whether he is a night owl or a morning lark? New research presented at SLEEP 2011 suggests that you may be able to do just that.
In a fascinating study of sleep preferences among professional baseball players, it was found that batting averages in day and night games may relate to their circadian rhythms, including their desired sleep times. The research was conducted by Dr. W. Christopher Winter from Charlottesville, Va. and involved 16 players from seven major league teams.
Players who identified as night owls performed better in games in the afternoon and evening while those who are morning lacks and prefer to rise early did better during games starting before 2 p.m. As an example, in games starting after 8 p.m. or later, night owls or evening types had a .306 batting average while the morning types had a .252 average.
Unfortunately the small sample size may limit the accuracy of the research, so further study including more players is necessary to determine if managers should consider sleep preferences in establishing the batting line-up.
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