Baseball is one of America’s greatest sports, but many people overlook it and the skill it takes. According to Wezen-ball.com, a baseball is nine inches in circumference and 2.94 inches in diameter. According to tbonesbaseball.com, the average baseball bat barrel is 2.625 inches in diameter, giving a player very little room for mistake since the ball is 0.315 inches bigger than the barrel. 

Another thing to talk about is the game itself. The average MLB game lasts around two and a half hours, which also comes with a lot of heat. A normal MLB game is stretched throughout nine innings. There is a top and a bottom to each inning. Each team gets to play in the field and hit each inning and it is repeated throughout the game for all nine innings. 

Talking about the offensive side of baseball, according to Fox13news.com, the average MLB pitcher pitches about 95 miles per hour. With the pitcher being only 60 feet and six inches away from home plate, batters have roughly .425 seconds to react to the pitch and decide if they are going to swing or not. 

On the defensive side, the average exit velocity of the ball coming off the bat is roughly 90 miles per hour. This gives the defense very little time to react to how fast the ball is coming off the bat. Outfielders also have very little time to react to a ball off the bat if they want any chance of getting to it. 

Another reason baseball is such a challenging sport would be the mental drive you need to have. Baseball is all about not dwelling on the past, players need to worry about the next play and not the error they made last play. If a player has a bad plate appearance, they have to forget about it and move on to the next play. If a player worries about what has already happened, they will not be locked in for the next play, and they will keep making the same mistake.  

One of the last things to add on that makes baseball such a difficult sport is the recovery aspect. Throwing a baseball puts a lot of strain on your arm and without proper recovery techniques such as icing and stretching, it can be dangerous and even lead to arm pain or even injury. Many pro athletes have more complex post-game cool downs than pre-game warm ups, and keeping an arm healthy in baseball is one of the most challenging things, and if it is not taken seriously it can end badly.