Really?
I've just finished watching a series in which the Mets swept the Phillies in 27 scoreless innings, with some pretty amazing pitching and fielding.
Apparently it's the first shutout series sweep for the team in 41 seasons.
I don't recall the announcers, who have been showering the Mets with praise and compliments, describing any of the players as "studs" or their play as "studlike" etc. That's about 12 hours worth of play and pre- and post-game commentary.
Again, it's a word that people use sarcastically - not as ingenuous praise.
No brodcaster is going to call a player a stud on the air but I wouldn’t be surprised if they call good athletes studs off the air. Sports fans have called good athletes studs for as long as I can remember. To deny that stud is considered less insulting by the general population than slut is idiocy.
Congratulations on watching sports for the first time. If you stick with it you will often hear announcers talk about one player or another - - especially a big, strong player who can hit the ball a mile, or break a run for 20 yards, or nail a pile of consecutive 3-point shots - - as “quite a stud” or some similar phrase.
The word is probably most often used to describe high draft picks and rookies.