I'd like to collect some opinions on players that didn't meet their ratings potential because they weren't played at their projected position while in the minors. Please post your experiences. Thank you!

The answers will be nothing but speculation.

Quote: Originally Posted By MikeT23 on 2/28/2010The answers will be nothing but speculation.

Speculaton presented as certainty, however.

I'm not even sure what the question is, so I'll speculate, certainly.

If you are asking "Does playing a player 'out-of-position' diminish that player's development?" the answer is probably not. Playing time is the most important factor in player development - if he doesn't play, he won't develop fully.

If you are asking "Does playing a DH at SS help develop his defensive ratings faster?" the answer is 'some people think so, but I think that it's chickenshit to play a DH anywhere but DH.

If I have two SS, at the same level, I'll play one at 2b and one at SS (or maybe 3b, or even CF). And I'm observed that guys still develop, even when I'm playing them out of position.

Lastly, the LAST thing any owner should be worried about is projected ratings. Mirages, all of them. CURRENT ratings are what matter - when CURRENT ratings increase, that's development. Projections are further than they appear and basing any decision on projected ratings - until you have ~20 seasons of experience - is foolish.

Quote: Originally Posted By soxfan121 on 3/01/2010I'm not even sure what the question is, so I'll speculate, certainly.

If you are asking "Does playing a player 'out-of-position' diminish that player's development?" the answer is probably not. Playing time is the most important factor in player development - if he doesn't play, he won't develop fully.

If you are asking "Does playing a DH at SS help develop his defensive ratings faster?" the answer is 'some people think so, but I think that it's chickenshit to play a DH anywhere but DH.

If I have two SS, at the same level, I'll play one at 2b and one at SS (or maybe 3b, or even CF). And I'm observed that guys still develop, even when I'm playing them out of position.

Lastly, the LAST thing any owner should be worried about is projected ratings. Mirages, all of them. CURRENT ratings are what matter - when CURRENT ratings increase, that's development. Projections are further than they appear and basing any decision on projected ratings - until you have ~20 seasons of experience - is foolish.

I'll have to disagree with that last statement. N00bs are NOT going to understand how current ratings progress when they first start playing the game. Projections can give a rough idea (understand, not an EXACT blueprint) of what the player can become if developed properly.

The way I read that final statement above, it can be interpreted that n00bs should ignore projected ratings. That seems to be an incredibly short-sighted piece of advice.

Even $20M in advance scouting yields projected ratings that are not 100% trustworthy. And even veteran owners, who understand The_Jester, can be wrong about a player's ceiling.

Perhaps it's more fair to say: Base your decisions, 99% of the time, on current ratings. Projected ratings can also be termed "pie-in-the-sky ratings" and they are most often inaccurate.

If there is one thing I see trip up new owners more than any other, it's reliance on projected ratings. And while they can give a n00b that "rough idea", it's often the wrong, future-damaging idea.

Replace "n00b" with "98% of anyone attempting to make a trade" and you're pretty close.

So my question becomes: should I be using projected ratings to decide what position my minor league player should be playing now, even if it results in lots of errors? And would playing them at an easier position instead (LF instead of 2B, for example) prevent them from reaching their overall fielding potential?

I use recs in the minors with this disclaimer: If I draft a guy as a SS, he has SS listed as a position regardless of the recs.

Unless you go in and manually change his positions right?

When I sign a new player, he's only listed at one position. So I go to the position change screen and hit projected. He's now listed at more than one but maybe not his "original" position. So I add that one back.

The question is what position do you set as the primary - the one he is best at right now, or the one he is projected to rise to eventually? And does choosing one over the other impact development? soxfan121 speculates that it does not matter. I've heard elsewhere that it may.

The "recs" button is a solid place to start, and for minor leaguers, I'd stick with "projected" positions, since current would mean you'll never have a SS or CF below AA.

If they are listed as projected to play that position, try to play them there. If a guy ends up being a ML 3B or 2B, well... what's the harm?

Quote: Originally posted by opie100 on 3/01/2010The question is what position do you set as the primary - the one he is best at right now, or the one he is projected to rise to eventually?  And does choosing one over the other impact development?  soxfan121 speculates that it does not matter.  I've heard elsewhere that it may.

I've read this a few times, and I have no idea what you are saying.

Are you claiming that someone told you that a player will not develop unless he's listed at his "primary" position? Hogwash.

Will a minor league SS develop as a SS if he plays SS? Yes.

Will a minor league LF develop his defensive ratings if you play him "out of position" at 1b? Yes. In RF? Yes. In CF? Yes.

The key thing here is PLAYING TIME. A guy will NOT fail to develop his defensive ratings if you play him "out of position" so long as you play him. In the field.

While I agree with your position, I don't think, again, that you can say it so definitively. WifS has stated, on several occassions, that players need to play their "proper" positions to develop properly. I haven't seen anything that makes me believe that's true but I wouldn't disagree with THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE WEBSITE so definitively.