One of my top prospects,   Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Mike Ramirez  projects to have 89 range and 74 Glove, so I was banking on him playing CF in the future. While his bat looks like it could help my ML club which is in desperate need of a lead off hitter, his current defense is 85 range and only 61 glove.   With holes at CF and 2B this offseason, I signed  Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Mac Jackson to what I thought was a pretty reasonable contract to play CF for the next 3 years.  

How do I best develop the prospect's glove? Do I play him at SS or CF at AAA?  Or could I have him play 2B at some point this season in the ML in the hopes that I'd move him to CF after Mac Jackson's 3 year contract is done? Ramirez would then be 26, so he'd still be in his prime.

You can play him at any of the three, but play him as much as possible with a good fielding coach.  

SS, CF, 2B are the prime positions to develop fielding. 

Ramirez should be a 2b, even if he makes it to the 74 glove, that's an awfully weak CF glove but right at the average for a 2b.

I'd be concerned about playing a 74 glove in CF.  That's a full 11 points below the recs.

Here's a similar guy (88 range, 72 glove) - 6 errors in 56 games.

Another guy (88 range, 74 glove) - 11 errors in 162 games.

I'd damn sure rather have a weak glove in CF than at 2B. 

My opinion; his (the prospect's) bat won't make up for his D (unless it projects much better than I'm seeing).

Below par at 2B and CF defensively, too weak an arm for 3B, doesn't hit well enough for COF or 1B.

The HBD public is free to challenge this assertion.

I agree w/ death, I don't see him as much more than a versitale bench bat.  His glove will top out somewhere in the low 70s/upper 60s.  Contact will be great, which will be enhanced with his speed for a number of infield hits, but his splits, lack of power and eye will offset that.

In the end, I think he's the type of guy that if you let them start 140+ games, he won't help you much with either the glove, nor the bat at any position.  He won't kill you, but you'll never be enamored with him.  It helps that he'll be significantly better vs righties than lefties, meaning he'd be a great assest on the bench, just not a guy that has a regular home anywhere on the diamond.

I'd find uses for players like that.  Unless you tank, it's pretty hard to find stars at every position.  I regularly have one or two guys like him on the roster to provide depth enough to give guys some rest.  I wouldn't use him at 2B unless I had a pitcher with a GB rating of 6 (which I do on one of my teams).  In that situation, sometimes I'll sacrifice a 2B glove and put range in the OF.  Of course your guy will play there too.  Depends what else you have on your roster.

You can put a guy like that in LF/RF and get some plus plays out of him in a defensive role.  Once he asks from 1m+ in arb, kick his *** to the curb.  And, without a better CF option, he could play there.    There are ways to find uses for guys like that.  

That's a long way from "one of my top prospects".

Point proven.

Maybe he has a ****** team.

Maybe he has a ****** team because people give him bad advice in the forums.

You may have overpaid for Jackson.  No power, doesn't walk and a mediocre glove for a CF.  He does have nice range though.

Best thing about him is his durability.  He'll play all 162 games.  But i'm willing to bet that with some judicious trading you could have found somebody like him in somebody else's AAA team.

Ramirez is below average as a CF AND as a 2B, even if he hits his projections.  Doesn't have the arm to play 3B.  Doesn't have the bat to be a 3B, either.

He is probably best suited as a utility guy.

But, to answer your question, play him everyday in AAA at 2B or CF to get his best development.

I probably did overpay for Jackson in general, but there was a huge bidding war on all CFs in my world.   Hardball Dynasty – Fantasy Baseball Sim Games - Player Profile: Andruw Shaw got a HUGE contract. Is he 4 times as good as Mac Jackson?  

I took over a team that has never been above .500 in 9 seasons in the league.  Not much to work with here.  Ramirez is my best prospect who is almost ML ready.  

Here's another question...  how do you weight plus/minus plays vs. errors?  Am I wrong to assume plus/minus factors in range and arm while errors mainly reflect glove?  If so, he'll have lots of errors, but should have plenty of range....

Thanks for all the help.  

Oh, and for those wondering about the rest of my team, I play in AT&T park, so I have picked up a lot of flyball pitchers.  Figuring they'd have more value in a park that is stingy in the HR department.  Lots of triples in that park.  Lots of room for that ball to land out in the outfield.