A question that has bugged me for awhile: do you want your center fielder to be the guy with the highest range rating or the best fielding rating?

Range, he'll get the most chances, just as SS and 2b will get more chances than the corner IF. I would avoid D- gloves at any position.

I value range over fielding for my CF but probably wouldn’t take a D rating in either category based on the number of CF chances. I once put a A/B OF in CF with 2 A+ range corner OF with some success. The thought process was my CF would catch everything he could get to, wouldn’t get a ton of putouts but his corners would make up the difference.

I have a team with '96 Lance Johnson in right, '10 Tris Speaker in CF. Speaker is a 3.09 to Johnson's 2.61, Speaker has more chances but Johnson has more + plays and 1/2 the errors. Go figure...

Posted by DoctorKz on 11/6/2022 5:27:00 PM (view original):
I have a team with '96 Lance Johnson in right, '10 Tris Speaker in CF. Speaker is a 3.09 to Johnson's 2.61, Speaker has more chances but Johnson has more + plays and 1/2 the errors. Go figure...

A- range in LF or RF getting more + plays than A+ range in CF isn't shocking. CF is "expected" to have higher range.

Expected?

A high range CF with more chances than a corner OF with equal or lesser range should get more +plays, IMO...

Posted by DoctorKz on 11/6/2022 8:58:00 PM (view original):
A high range CF with more chances than a corner OF with equal or lesser range should get more +plays, IMO...

If u play a corner OF with the same range as a CF (with the same amount of defensive innings) the corner OF will have more + plays over the long run. I think it's been like this for at least a decade.

I'll have to do some digging. I'll go with you on this unless I find something different... perhaps others will chime in.

Posted by DoctorKz on 11/6/2022 9:16:00 PM (view original):
I'll have to do some digging. I'll go with you on this unless I find something different... perhaps others will chime in.

Look at your "Diamonds" team.
RF --- C+ --- 15 + plays
CF --- B- --- 7 - plays
LF --- C+ --- 9 + plays (115 games)

I'll have to do a few test teams with identical fielding at all 3 OF positions.

For my test I will use the '18 Roush, '27 Metzler and '35 Ben Chapman. Roush is a bit thin on PA, so I will bat him 9th so he gets the same # of innings as the other two.

All are 2.99 RRF, all .963 to .967 fld pct.

Chapman speed 89, Metzler 86, Roush 80, just thought I'd put that in there FWIW...

I'll put them in AT&T, see how well they cut down on triples there. MLB135660, if you care to follow along. I will periodically post results.

Posted by DoctorKz on 11/7/2022 1:11:00 AM (view original):
For my test I will use the '18 Roush, '27 Metzler and '35 Ben Chapman. Roush is a bit thin on PA, so I will bat him 9th so he gets the same # of innings as the other two.

All are 2.99 RRF, all .963 to .967 fld pct.

Chapman speed 89, Metzler 86, Roush 80, just thought I'd put that in there FWIW...

I'll put them in AT&T, see how well they cut down on triples there. MLB135660, if you care to follow along. I will periodically post results.

I'll predict 34 + plays in LF, 34 + plays in RF, 22 + plays in CF.

Posted by DoctorKz on 11/7/2022 1:11:00 AM (view original):
For my test I will use the '18 Roush, '27 Metzler and '35 Ben Chapman. Roush is a bit thin on PA, so I will bat him 9th so he gets the same # of innings as the other two.

All are 2.99 RRF, all .963 to .967 fld pct.

Chapman speed 89, Metzler 86, Roush 80, just thought I'd put that in there FWIW...

I'll put them in AT&T, see how well they cut down on triples there. MLB135660, if you care to follow along. I will periodically post results.

Through 27 games all 3 have 4 +plays

DoctorKz, I'm surprised how much higher the range factor is for your RF vs your LF. Are your pitchers facing a high number of left handed hitters?