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Baseball Question

  • Dr Winston O'Boogie
    Why are baseball players' offensive production results correlated with their position? What I mean is that sometimes I'll hear commentators talking about a player being moved from one defensive position to another all on account of an increase or decrease in his offensive stats.

    Why does it matter where a player plays in the field when considering his plate performance?
  • OneBuckeye
    Dr Winston O'Boogie;824571 wrote:Why are baseball players' offensive production results correlated with their position? What I mean is that sometimes I'll hear commentators talking about a player being moved from one defensive position to another all on account of an increase or decrease in his offensive stats.

    Why does it matter where a player plays in the field when considering his plate performance?

    Because certain positions have a deeper talenet pool in terms of hitting stats. Its normal to find more power numbers in a 1st baseman so if your first baseman doesn't hit a lot of HRs he may not have as much value there as he would if he played 2B. He is more easily replaced at 1B with a player of comperable or better stats rather than 2B.
  • karen lotz
    Can you give an example? The only thing I can think of would be moving a catcher to first base, which should be fairly obvious how that would help with offensive production. Other than that, I've never heard of a defensive move directly impacting someone's offense.
  • BR1986FB
    karen lotz;824579 wrote:Can you give an example? The only thing I can think of would be moving a catcher to first base, which should be fairly obvious how that would help with offensive production. Other than that, I've never heard of a defensive move directly impacting someone's offense.

    As an example, a 3rd baseman is expected to have more of a "power bat' than say a 2nd baseman. Doesn't really have anything to do with switching positions. There are just greater offensive expectations from certain positions.
  • sleeper
    Baseball doesn't make any sense, and the only reason they talk about crap like this is to keep people distracted while the pitcher takes a half hour to make a pitch. The game is a joke, better to just turn the TV off then try and understand the third worst televised sport in world history(right after Nascar and Golf).
  • Heretic
    And more defensive expectations with certain positions. If you're a good fielding catcher or shortstop who is batting under .250 and doesn't have much power, you'll get playing time. If you're a first baseman with those numbers, you'll likely be on shakier ground, since the fielding demands for that position are less.

    Kind of like with center field. Good hitting is nice, but if they can cover a lot of ground and make plays, having a power bat isn't the same sort of necessity as it might be for left or right field.
  • karen lotz
    BR1986FB;824586 wrote:As an example, a 3rd baseman is expected to have more of a "power bat' than say a 2nd baseman. Doesn't really have anything to do with switching positions. There are just greater offensive expectations from certain positions.


    Yeah I get that, but the OP says that people are talking about moving players to different positions to take advantage of offensive abilities (I think). Moving someone from 2nd to 3rd doesn't make them a better hitter, or moving someone from 3rd to 2nd doesn't make them a worse hitter. Maybe I'm not understanding exactly what the OP is trying to say.
  • BR1986FB
    Heretic;824591 wrote:And more defensive expectations with certain positions. If you're a good fielding catcher or shortstop who is batting under .250 and doesn't have much power, you'll get playing time. If you're a first baseman with those numbers, you'll likely be on shakier ground, since the fielding demands for that position are less.

    Kind of like with center field. Good hitting is nice, but if they can cover a lot of ground and make plays, having a power bat isn't the same sort of necessity as it might be for left or right field.

    Exactly.
  • Dr Winston O'Boogie
    Heretic and OneBuckeye,

    Your explanations make sense. I can see where both talent pool and fielding requirements would make a difference. HEre's a specific question BR1986FB raises with me: does third base requrie more power hitting than say second base because it is a less demanding defensive position?
  • Raw Dawgin' it
    sleeper;824589 wrote:Baseball doesn't make any sense, and the only reason they talk about crap like this is to keep people distracted while the pitcher takes a half hour to make a pitch. The game is a joke, better to just turn the TV off then try and understand the third worst televised sport in world history(right after Nascar and Golf).

    LOL
  • karen lotz
    I don't think "require" is the right word. It just seems that way because usually first and third basemen are bigger guys who are more likely going to be power hitters as compared to middle infielders. Same thing with corner outfielders vs center fielders.
  • Dr Winston O'Boogie
    Thanks everybody.
  • mhs95_06
    Joe Mauer with his medical problems is a good example. Of course his contract is a really bad deal for theam if he doesn't play. If he can play first base his contract is still not a good deal for the team. His contract was based on his offensive capability and defensive catcher capability and the team won't get full value if he doesn't catch, but that is better than getting no value.
  • Sonofanump
    Dr Winston O'Boogie;824603 wrote:Heretic and OneBuckeye,

    Your explanations make sense. I can see where both talent pool and fielding requirements would make a difference. HEre's a specific question BR1986FB raises with me: does third base requrie more power hitting than say second base because it is a less demanding defensive position?

    I'd rather have a Jeff Kent type at 2B and free up a better hitting 3B than a light hitting middle infielder if defensive ability was the same.

    It might be tough for Cleveland fans to buy into this since you would think Santana at C would free up a power hitting 1B instead of playing a light hitting catcher.
  • BR1986FB
    Sonofanump;824720 wrote: It might be tough for Cleveland fans to buy into this since you would think Santana at C would free up a power hitting 1B instead of playing a light hitting catcher.

    This was discussed on WKNR with the return of Laporta. The thought was that because the Tribe is heavily weighted with left handed hitters that they might consider putting Laporta (righty) back in the OF (for Choo), putting Santana (switch hitter) at 1st and putting the light hitting/better defensive Marson (righty) at catcher to get more right handed sticks in the lineup.
  • Sonofanump
    BR1986FB;824758 wrote:This was discussed on WKNR with the return of Laporta. The thought was that because the Tribe is heavily weighted with left handed hitters that they might consider putting Laporta (righty) back in the OF (for Choo), putting Santana (switch hitter) at 1st and putting the light hitting/better defensive Marson (righty) at catcher to get more right handed sticks in the lineup.

    Sadly, not much difference in offensive production between Buck and Marson. In just about the same amount of AB, Buck has .013 in BA, 2 HR vs 0 and 5 more rbis.