Swimming is one thing - one pool, one stroke at a time, one length at a time, one clock for all participants. Easy to quantify. Easy to see. Who's ahead and who's behind?
Baseball is a mess - 9 on defense, one on offense to start, hitting, running, throwing, pitching, fielding, where does the ball go? who's responsible for it? where to throw it? how many different pitches? was that a strike or was it framed? And young men don't fully mature until their 20s. I pity college baseball recruiting coordinators. Early recruiting/early commitments are risky!