Better Now Than Never: 10 Late-Bloomers in Sports Today
Not every athlete can dominate from Day 1. Some need far more time to hone their craft before playing to their full capacity.
Under a typical development curve, athletes gradually improve in their earlier careers before peaking in their mid-to-late 20s. Depending on the sport and position, a few keep trucking long into their 30s without significant regression.
Carson Wentz is an anomaly. Rookie quarterbacks rarely play well and win immediately. Then again, he was also a late-bloomer drafted from FCS' North Dakota State at 23 years old.
David Ortiz, a 40-year-old leading MLB in slugging percentage during his final season, is just as much an odd outlier.
Of course, not everyone follows the same path. Randy Johnson, Steve Nash and Kurt Warner didn't arrive as stars, but they left as likely Hall of Fame entrants. Although athletes only have a limited time frame before their bodies stop cooperating, there's no shame in taking a delayed route to greatness.
These athletes didn't dazzle at first, but they have since emerged in grand fashion. Here's a look at some of the best late-bloomers in sports today.
Honorable Mentions
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DeMarre Carroll
In four years on four different teams, DeMarre Carroll didn't average more than 6.0 points per game in a season. On the Atlanta Hawks, the tenacious forward upped his scoring averages to 11.1 and 12.6.
Adding solid offense to his tremendous defense, he parlayed his breakout into a big payday with the Toronto Raptors.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
OK, so let's forget about those six interceptions he threw against the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday. Signed as a one-year placeholder, Ryan Fitzpatrick played his way to an extended stay by tossing a career-high 31 passing touchdowns last season.
His best football actually came the previous year, when he set personal bests in completion percentage (63.1), yards per pass attempt (7.96) and quarterback rating (95.3) for the Houston Texans. The 33-year-old is an OK option but ultimately only one someone as desperate as the New York Jets would start regularly.
Corey Kluber
During seven minor league seasons, Corey Kluber posted a 4.42 ERA. Over his past three seasons with the Cleveland Indians, the out-of-nowhere ace has issued a 3.01 ERA with 741 strikeouts in 672.2 innings.
Never perceived as a top prospect, the 30-year-old could feasibly receive his second American League Cy Young Award if voters aren't too enamored by Rick Porcello's 22 wins.
Jake Arrieta
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What did the Baltimore Orioles do to Jake Arrieta? Or perhaps the better question: How did the Chicago Cubs revive him into an ace?
Debuting in 2010, the well-regarded prospect posted a 5.46 ERA in three-plus seasons. Baltimore gave up in 2013, shipping him and Pedro Strop to the Chicago Cubs for Steve Clevenger—yes, the same middling catcher who was traded for current home run leader Mark Trumbo last winter and recently suspended for insensitive tweets—and Scott Feldman.
Strop is now an important part of Chicago's bullpen. Arrieta, meanwhile, is just the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.
A completely new pitcher on the Cubs, he has authored a 2.44 ERA and 8.95 strikeouts per nine innings since the trade. Last year, he recorded a 0.43 ERA over his final dozen regular-season starts.
"Stuff-wise, I think he’s the nastiest right-handed pitcher in the league," Cubs catcher Miguel Montero told USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz last year. "Everything he’s got is plus. I don’t think any hitter feels comfortable facing him."
His 2015 finish was so outstanding that this year's 2.85 ERA represents a massive step back. Teammate Kyle Hendricks could claim the Cy Young Award instead, and Arrieta is arguably now the Cubs' third-best starter behind Jon Lester.
That's saying more about the best team in baseball than the breakout ace, who didn't get his career going until turning 28.
Doug Baldwin
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Doug Baldwin broke out at age 27. That in itself is right on course with the norm. His rapid ascent into a touchdown machine, however, is less ordinary for an NFL wide receiver.
In his first four years with the run-first Seattle Seahawks, Baldwin corralled 15 receiving touchdowns. Including a postseason score, he collected as many last year, reaching the end zone 12 times over Seattle's final eight contests.
He's out to silence skeptics quick to label his late onslaught a fluke. During three 2016 contests, he has reeled in 20 of 27 targets for 276 yards and two touchdowns.
Cementing his late-bloomer label, Baldwin went undrafted after compiling 14 touchdowns over four years at Stanford. Last year was also not the mere byproduct of an expanded role. Entering 2015, he caught 64.1 percent of his targets. Since then, he has secured a superb 74.8 percent of looks directed his way over 19 regular-season bouts.
Don't expect another 14 touchdowns from the 5'10" wideout, but count on him again exceeding 1,000 yards with enough scores to discredit cries of one-hit wonder.
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Nelson Cruz
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Early in his career, Nelson Cruz carried the scarlet letter of Quadruple-A. Despite dominating the minors, it took awhile for his power to translate to the big leagues.
The Dominican slugger didn't make the majors until recording seven plate appearances as a 24-year-old who clobbered 27 homers between Double-A and Triple-A. Over the following two years, he hit .231/.278/.378 with 15 long balls in 137 MLB games for the Texas Rangers.
He broke out in 2008, but his .330/.421/.609 slash line came in a bite-sized sampling of 133 plate appearances. Even when he earned a full-time gig, injuries derailed him from logging over 128 games in a single season until 2012. By then he was 31.
Cruz fortunately has found health in his 30s, and gaudy power numbers have followed. He registered all three of his career 40-homer campaigns over the past three years. After setting personal bests in on-base (.369) and slugging percentage (.566) in 2015, he has mostly maintained his new ceiling with marks of .359 and .554 for the Seattle Mariners.
At 36 years old, the veteran is enjoying life predominantly as a designated hitter. Skeptics kept waiting for a decline, but Cruz should keep making up for lost time with a couple of more elite offensive seasons.
R.A. Dickey
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The magic couldn't last forever. Four years removed from his highly improbable NL Cy Young Award triumph, R.A. Dickey is no longer flummoxing hitters with his knuckleball. In his fourth season with the Toronto Blue Jays, the 41-year-old has posted a 4.46 ERA and 1.37 WHIP.
His 2012 breakout, during which he registered a 2.73 ERA and 230 strikeouts for the New York Mets, stands out as an outlier in his career portfolio. Yet it's inaccurate to portray his emergence as a one-year sideshow.
A below-replacement pitcher about to get run out of baseball, Dickey instead transformed into one of baseball's most durable arms. Even before his Cy Young season, he posted ERAs of 2.84 and 3.28 in 2010 and 2011, respectively, after never previously cementing one below 4.50.
Since he doesn't throw as hard as other MLB hurlers, he tallied over 200 innings in each of the last five seasons. Having worked 169.1 frames this year, the streak will snap barring a 31-inning outing during the final week. Since 2011, only four starters (David Price, James Shields, Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner) have accrued a heavier workload.
A serviceable rotation workhorse isn't what the Blue Jays envisioned when sending the Mets Noah Syndergaard and Travis d'Arnaud, but it's a vast improvement from finding a new career path during his mid-20s.
Goran Dragic
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Many second-round draft picks never make the NBA. Most who do start and stay on the bench for the entirety of their unglamorous careers.
The No. 45 overall pick in 2008, Goran Dragic spent three uneventful years as a backup for the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets. He enjoyed a solid season in Houston—averaging 11.7 points and 5.3 assists per contest—before going back to Phoenix. In 2013-14, his career truly took off.
During his sixth NBA season, he earned Most Improved Player honors by tallying 20.3 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting. Eric Bledsoe sapped some of his offensive output the following the year, but the Slovenian guard maintained a 50.1 field-goal percentage with the Suns and Miami Heat.
Dragic has remained an efficient scorer in a high-usage role. With Dwyane Wade gone and Chris Bosh not cleared to return, his responsibilities are about to increase exponentially. As Miami's new top scoring option by default, he will probably top 20 points per game again this season.
Dustin Johnson
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Last year, young hotshot Jordan Spieth took the PGA by storm, winning two majors with two other top-five finishes. This year, Dustin Johnson completed his long-awaited climb to the top.
Days before turning 32, he earned his first career major victory at the 2016 U.S. Open. Stuck in the runner-up position seven times since 2011, Johnson finally took his turn atop the leaderboard despite some controversy.
Johnson, who went pro in 2007, is enjoying the best year of his career. The American has notched three PGA Tour victories and 15 top-10 finishes, vaulting him to No. 2 behind Jason Day in the world rankings.
Golf is no longer an old man's game. Spieth, Day, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler instead lead a stacked crop of under-30 stars guiding the sport into a bright future. Johnson is hardly a geezer, but he's suddenly one of the game's most experienced stars consistently delivering at a high level.
Although always a top performer, a seasoned Johnson now occupies golf's elite class as a perennial contender and credible threat to win many more majors.
Brandon Marshall
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Long regarded as the other Brandon Marshall—plenty of readers likely saw the header and thought of the New York Jets wide receiver—the Denver Broncos linebacker is claiming his stake to the name.
A fifth-round pick four years ago, Marshall recorded two tackles in 2012 before getting cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars for a third and final time. He only played one game the following year before collecting 113 tackles in 2014.
The Nevada native followed up his breakout campaign with another 102 tackles, not including his 14 during Denver's Super Bowl run. Formerly jettisoned by one of the league's most talent-starved organizations, he's now a vital member of the NFL's premier defense.
Before the season started, he told Caroline Deisley of the Broncos' official team site that he's looking forward to facing Jacksonville for the first time on December 4.
“I can’t wait. That game is circled,” Marshall said. “I told all my guys in the huddle to make sure that week we go hard in practice so we can win. I’m trying to get a pick-six.”
He won't be the first hastily abandoned athlete to seek revenge on the franchise who wronged him. Most others, however, hide behind the "It's just like any other game" lie.
Even if Marshall doesn't personally make them pay, he has already gotten the last laugh.
Joe Pavelski
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From seventh-round pick to captain of the San Jose Sharks and Team USA's World Cup of Hockey squad, Joe Pavelski has not attained stardom in conventional fashion.
Snagged from the USHL at 19 years old, the center waited three more years before making his NHL debut. The Sharks quickly realized what a gem they unearthed, but not to the magnitude of this past three elite seasons.
Since 2013, only Alex Ovechkin has scored more goals (154) than Pavelski's 116. Having previously never exceeded 66 points, he has amounted at least 70 in all three seasons.
Before hounding him for offering one point during the Stanley Cup Finals, remember him leading San Jose through the Western Conference with 13 goals and nine assists. Along with falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 32-year-old now must also bounce back from Team USA's semifinal elimination.
Having established a new peak as one of the NHL's preeminent scorers, he should recover nicely this season.
J.J. Redick
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Unlike most late-bloomers, J.J. Redick arrived with grand expectations. Before the Orlando Magic drafted him at No. 11 in 2006, the polarizing Duke star registered 26.8 points per contest, second in the NCAA behind Adam Morrison.
The Gonzaga standout started strong—at least from a scoring volume standpoint—before flaming out. Redick, on the other hand, spent multiple years as a solid, under-utilized role player. He didn't average double-digit points per game until his fifth season, when he mustered 10.1 off Orlando's bench.
The shooting guard seemed sentenced to a career-long reserve role. Then he went to the Los Angeles Clippers and blossomed into a major contributor around their marquee stars.
Redick, who was 29 when he joined the Western Conference contender in 2013, has recorded 16.1 points per game over three seasons. He has also produced the highest field-goal percentages of his career while blossoming into a lethal three-point shooter.
Along with draining 200 threes in each of the last two seasons, his 47.5 percentage behind the arc led everyone in 2015-16. As a result, only Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant topped his 63.2 true shooting percentage, per Basketball-Reference.com.
While he always sported the shooting stroke, he needed the right environment to harness his talents. He found the perfect spot alongside Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, who needed a potent perimeter threat to keep Lob City in business.
Toronto Blue Jays Offense
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Edwin Encarnacion hit 42 home runs during his eighth career MLB season. The 33-year-old slugger, who has since gone deep 34 or more times with an OPS above .900 every year, has matched that career-high homer tally in 2016. He certainly qualifies as a late-bloomer.
So does teammate Jose Bautista. It took him 80 games in his third year on his fourth team to hit his first career big league blast. Three years later, he stockpiled 54 of them shortly before his 30th birthday. He has 307 career dingers, and injuries prevented him from amassing more.
But wait, what about Josh Donaldson? He was 26 when the Oakland Athletics first afforded him extended action, during which he batted .241/.289/.398. The third baseman broke out the following year, and he could become the back-to-back American League MVP winner.
All three of those Blue Jays stars boast a higher career OPS in the majors than the minors. They all deserve a nod, but let's squeeze them together to make room for other franchises and sports.
Actually, while in Toronto, 29-year-old outfielder Michael Saunders has belted a career-high 24 homers while sporting an .824 OPS, well above his .712 career norm.
The Blue Jays may need to locate more hidden gems if Encarnacion and/or Bautista leave this winter.
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