Last Friday, the baseball socials and various “topical” sports websites were abuzz about MLB’s shrinking ballplayers.
Since MLB is implementing the ABS (Automated Balls/Strikes System) this season, the league remeasured players to get more exact figures to feed into the computer. That resulted in a lot of players’ official heights changing.
Gavin Lux sort of became the unofficial representative of the change in ballplayers’ heights. Lux went from 6-foot-2 to 5-foot-11. I admit, I don’t notice players’ heights much but if someone told me when Lux was on the Dodgers that he was 6-2, I would have laughed. Not what my eyes were telling me when watching him in a game.
This info is all well and good but naturally I wanted to know how this played out on baseball cards. Did the vital stats on the backs change from 2025 to 2026?
Immediately, the answer was “yes.” Lux does not have a 2026 Topps flagship card yet, but he does have a Heritage card (one of the “lucky 400”), so I could compare backs.
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Indeed, Lux’s height shrinks from 6-2 on the back of his 2025 Topps card to 5-11 on his Heritage card. (“C. Geronimo won a fielding award” — how about a first name there Topps?).
The only players initially mentioned as far as their heights changing were Lux and Alex Bregman. But there are lots of players whose heights have changed and not all of the heights lessened either. Some of them grew.
I went through all of the 2026 Topps Series 1 cards, focusing on the hitters, and found the players whose measurements changed on their card backs. That total came to 79 players. In every case it was only an inch or two on either side. That’s probably why Lux was cited right away with a three-inch difference.
According to the Topps card backs, 57 of the 79 hitters are now shorter. But 22 of the 79 are now taller. The majority of players change only an inch. A small group shrank two inches. Out of those Series 1 players here are the ones with a two-inch difference:
Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays: 5-10 to 5-8
Nico Hoerner, Cubs: 6-1 to 5-11
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays: 6-2 to 6-0
Brendan Donovan, Mariners: 6-1 to 5-11
Nolan Schanuel, Angels: 6-4 to 6-2
Casey Schmitt, Giants: 6-2 to 6-0
Gabriel Moreno, Diamondbacks: 5-11 to 5-9
Dalton Rushing, Dodgers: 6-1 to 5-11
CJ Abrams, Nationals: 6-2 to 6-0
Gavin Sheets, Padres: 6-5 to 6-3
Teoscar Hernandez, Dodgers: 6-2 to 6-0
Pedro Pages, Cardinals: 6-1 to 5-11
Andrew Vaughn, Brewers: 6-0 to 5-10
Brandon Marsh, Phillies; 6-4 to 6-2
TJ Friedl, Reds: 5-10 to 5-8
The assumption is that players inflate their heights, though for strike zone purposes that’s not going to help you. And, sure, as players are coming up through the ranks it probably sounds better that you’re 6-2 rather than 6-1. But most of this is the difference of wearing shoes or not, wearing a hat or not. When players were remeasured, they were not wearing shoes or hats.
Here are the players whose heights increased from 2025 to 2026 according to their card backs (again, this is just the players who appear in 2026 Series 1):
Blaze Alexander, Diamondbacks: 5-11 to 6-0
Matt Shaw, Cubs: 5-9 to 5-10
Mookie Betts, Dodgers: 5-9 to 5-10
Spencer Horwitz, Pirates: 5-10 to 5-11
Matt McLain, Reds: 5-8 to 5-9
Jose Caballero, Yankees: 5-9 to 5-10
Ceddane Rafaela, Red Sox: 5-9 to 5-10
Evan Carter, Rangers: 6-2 to 6-3
Ben Rice, Yankees: 6-1 to 6-2
Ronny Mauricio, Mets: 6-3 to 6-4
Colton Cowser, Orioles: 6-2 to 6-3
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs: 5-11 to 6-0
Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers: 6-3 to 6-4
Joey Bart, Pirates: 6-2 to 6-3
Max Schuemann, A’s: 5-11 to 6-0
Mike Yastrzemski, Royals: 5-10 to 5-11
Hunter Goodman, Rockies: 5-11 to 6-0
Jeremy Pena, Astros: 6-0 to 6-1
Anthony Volpe, Yankees: 5-9 to 5-10
Kyle Manzardo, Guardians: 5-11 to 6-0
Carlos Narvaez, Red Sox: 5-11 to 6-0
Andrew Benintendi, White Sox: 5-9 to 5-10
All of these are the difference of an inch.
I’m not listing all of the players who dropped an inch because I don’t have the time. But if you’re curious, the hitters known as being really short, like Jose Altuve or Caleb Durbin, are officially the same height. And the hitters known for being really tall, like Aaron Judge or Elly De La Cruz, are also officially the same height.
As for pitchers, I started looking at the backs of all their 2026 cards but after 50 or so pitchers nobody’s height changed so I stopped that, assuming they probably weren’t remeasured because they never come to the plate.
That assumption was wrong:
Cristopher Sanchez, 2025: 6-foot-1
Cristopher Sanchez, 2026: 6-foot-6
What was he eating in 2025??