BASEBALL POSITIONS??????????????

[mister friendly]

I follow baseball mainly thru magazines because I dont really watch games anymore.

My question is to baseball heads. Why do fielding positions matter so much in baseball?
Like why didnt Jeter move to 3rd when Alex Rodrigues came to the Yankees? A-Rod was the reiging AL Gold Glove shortstop.

Like why do they UNC Dustin Ackley will have to play outfielsd in majors even though plays first base too?

Why are alot 2nd baseman not very good offensively til recently?

I dont quite understand that part of the game completely.

 

[jpzx]

Why does it matter?

Because an infielder's range and speed plays a HUGE part in whether his team wins or loses on any given day...whether it's diving to stop a grounderabout to go into centerfield or just knowing certain situations.

I think it's fine that A-Rod moved to 3rd once he joined the Yankees...sure he had his struggles playing the position at first but now he's adjusted.Jeter is the face of the Yankees and he's held the SS position for about 13 years there.

No way was A-Rod just going to go in there in 2004 and take that spot.

 

[cincoseisdos]

Jeter didn't move because as JPZx put it, he IS the Yankees, no way is he moved for anybody at that point in his career. Even though AROD was a much betterdefensive SS than Jeet. It's a rare case so it doesn't really add to this discussion.

 

[mister friendly]

Originally Posted by CincoSeisDos

Jeter didn't move because as JPZx put it, he IS the Yankees, no way is he moved for anybody at that point in his career. Even though AROD was a much better defensive SS than Jeet. It's a rare case so it doesn't really add to this discussion.

See thats what I dont get. Jeter would still be playing he wouldnt be sitting on the bench or something. If A-Rod was a better fielder wouldnt it help yourteam win more games?

 

[cincoseisdos]

Yeah but....

it's the yankees. Not much makes sense

 

[N41D]

It's just a matter of different skill sets for different positions... Just like basketball, football, and any other sport...

The only reason A-Rod moved off of SS when he went to the Yankees was because Derek Jeter was the second coming of Jesus Christ in New York and Yankee fanswould have rioted had they asked Jeter to move... They'd have been better off with Alex at SS, but that's neither here nor there...

Dustin Ackley won't have to play the outfield in the bigs, but if they think he's mobile and athletic enough to play there, he's gotbetter value out there... First base is generally reserved for your guys that flat out cannot play anywhere else on the MLB level... Just less field to coverthere than anywhere else, and mobility/athleticism/arm strength aren't as much an issue as they would be anywhere else...

Up the middle (SS, 2B, CF) has always been more about speed and range than anything else... There's a ton of ground to cover at those three positions,because you've got a lot of field going both to the left and right of those spots... You generally put your best athletes in one of those three spotsdefensively until they prove they can't handle it... You put smaller, faster guys at those three positions, and your expectation for power production goesdown... It's just always been more about defense at those 3 spots than offensive value, up until recently, because those three positions can essentiallymake or break your team defensively...

Third base you want quick reactions, sure hands and a strong arm before anything else... Lots of hard hit balls down there, thus the 'hot corner', soguys need to be able to react to balls quick... Longest throws in the infield... Range isn't as much an issue, more a luxury there than anything else...

The corner outfield (LF and RF) are like first base in that they're essentially the last place you stick guys because they're relatively easy to play,compared to everywhere else... Only real thing here is you have to have guys with good arms, because they're making the longest throws on the field...

 

[cincoseisdos]

To add one final note on the previous post (which is

)

It also depends on where your team stands in their depth charts. If you're 3b and there's a backlog there, they'll move you to a position wherethey're shallow with talent where you have the certain skillset to be successful there.

 

[mister friendly]

Thanks that helps me understand it better.

 

[theprofessorofpugilism]

damn, i was gonna come in and drop my 2 cents but Nowitness got it covered. One other thing i'll ad on the whole Jeter-Arod thing is that it was probablybetter for A-Rod to play 3rd because he had the better skill set to be a third baseman. A-rod may have been a little better Jeter at short, but we was WAYbetter than Jeter at 3rd, so they put him there for the lesser of two evils, so to say.