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Seca
Joined: 05/05/2014
Posts: 5194

Waterloo Dinosaurs
Legends

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Agreed. I think its prudent to give Esteban whatever 3B experience you can. I like the plan of Esteban at C and Hutton at 3B, but you never know what you might be able to add and how plans may change.

Defense aside, young players may still be excruciating. Maybe less so in lower divisions. But unless the player is exceptional (or exceptionally lucky) he's probably a millstone on offense too.
BrianV
Joined: 02/08/2016
Posts: 125

Inactive

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At this point, I've had Rivera assigned to 3B for 140 games, a full minors season. Of that, he was only started at 3B for 61 games with the remainder spread between C, OF and DH.

So much for my hope of getting him some positional experience at 3B. I wonder why the sim wouldn't listen to my wishes to put him at 3B?
brentswagger
Joined: 03/22/2016
Posts: 265

Lakeville Bears
IV.2

Broken Bat Baseball
I'm not the expert on this but it was my understanding that if you play a player at an assigned new position he gains training in that position whether he plays in games at that spot or not. Is this inaccurate?
BrianV
Joined: 02/08/2016
Posts: 125

Inactive

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Now I need to figure out what to do with him next season. I intended him to replace Lewis Miles, my current 12-POT catcher... but Miles has put up an .890 OPS this season with 17 HRs and 20SB, and is suddenly my second most valuable batter.

I think I may let Rivera grow in AAA for a second season since I'm in no rush to put him in the majors. I always have him in my back pocket it Lewis gets injured or regresses back towards his career norms.

Updated Wednesday, July 5 2017 @ 7:02:40 am PDT
Endrju
Joined: 05/28/2015
Posts: 577

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
@brentswagger
He needs to actually field his position in order to learn it. There is no other way.

@BrianV
To answer your question from title, here's an example for you. I had no clear idea where to play this guy, but I knew he had to play. By the time I decided to teach him 3B, it was too late and very soon he was ready for Majors. He started without even small 3b mark and... check the fielding percentage from his first two Major League years :) I knew he was young enough to be worth the trouble though.

Updated Wednesday, July 5 2017 @ 7:38:35 am PDT
Herp Derp
Joined: 02/21/2017
Posts: 132

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
I'm new and all and I'm still playing at the lowest level, but I'm not sure training a guy at a new position is as painful as it's cracked up to be. Or, at least there's more to consider than errors and fielding percentage.

This is the "best fielding" shortstop in my league:

https://brokenbat.org/player/86427

This is the outfielder I've been playing at short this season:

https://brokenbat.org/player/101282

If you look at the stats, Crane is clearly superior in the field. It's not even close. He fields everything he gets to.
But, with 12 range, would he even get to some of the balls my 18 range guy boots?

Plus, the difference between a .990 fielding percentage and a .950 is 4 fielding opportunities out of 100. Of those 4/100, how many actually come back to hurt you?
I don't keep spreadsheets or anything, but I do watch my games and it seems to me that a good deal fewer than half of those errors actually result in any extra runs. Of those 1 or 2 plays out of 100 that cost you a run, how many of those runs really play a factor in the outcome of a game?

The way I see it so far is that, other than maybe shortening a pitcher's outing a little, only a handful of the errors your developing fielder makes are going to hurt much... and, even those that do may be well worth it down the line.

Updated Wednesday, July 5 2017 @ 9:54:08 am PDT
FreddyTheEye
Joined: 11/11/2014
Posts: 625

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
@brentswagger
He needs to actually field his position in order to learn it. There is no other way.



This is NOT correct. 90% sure..but again, correct me if I'm wrong...


I believe the OP was talking about a minor league player. Minor league players will "play" at the position you assign them whether or not the stats say they got into games or if they get in at the wrong position.
Your player now has a full season of position exp if I understand the game correctly.
Endrju
Joined: 05/28/2015
Posts: 577

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
"Minor league players will "play" at the position you assign them whether or not the stats say they got into games or if they get in at the wrong position."

That's true (but I'm also not 100% sure) for minor leagues. If brentswagger was referring to minors, I missed the reference. The thread was about learning position in the Majors, and my answer was about Majors.
brentswagger
Joined: 03/22/2016
Posts: 265

Lakeville Bears
IV.2

Broken Bat Baseball
I was referring to the minors as the post just before mine was talking about a player in the minors but I can see how that could have been missed.
BrianV
Joined: 02/08/2016
Posts: 125

Inactive

Broken Bat Baseball
And now with this training update, Esteban got to 101 SI and got his majors recommendation.

I'm going to promote Esteban to be a 'bench bat' for the rest of the season. However, Lewis is playing too good (20HR, 23SB and a .905 OPS) to pull. We're only 5.5 games back right now and have 2 series against the leader left in the season... And we are playing at a .625 PCT since I replaced my manager 72 games ago.


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