Anyone ever gone against the grain and tested out a lefty throwing at 2b? Or catcher, 3b or SS? Always frowned upon in real life, but just wondered if anyone had tested it out to see if they can succeed in game or not. 2b is where I’m tempted to give an elite defensive CF a go.

Any thoughts or experience on this please comment below. Much appreciated

I've done it in the minors, and seen it done by others in the majors. My memory, without being able to identify a particular player, is that there's a substantial penalty at 2B, not only in the form of (-) plays but also a BIG drop in double plays.

But I have data for SS and 3B. Another owner in my world played this guy at 3B a lot, and at SS a little bit. At his peak his defensive ratings were about 80 in all 4 major categories... at SS he was an unmitigated disaster, making a (-) play every 20 innings (!). But at 3B he'd be about -6 or -7 every season, when his ratings would likely be about +18 or so if he threw right... so throwing left only cost about 25 plays a season. That could be worth it to get a big enough bat in the lineup.

Found one: this guy. Small sample size, but he was -7 in just 254 innings despite having a range of 81, which would probably typically lead to about +1 in that many innings at 2B. So my best guess is that you're giving up 45 plays or so a season to play a LH at 2B. Only a small dropoff in DP, though.

I did it in rookie ball once. Drafted a guy with ratings I liked and didn't realize till after the season that he was lefthanded.

Go to your league records and pull up the single season negative play record for 2B and 3B. Those are usually populated by lefties playing out of position. There is a team in my league that has been playing a guy off and on there the last few seasons. If he was right handed....he would be your typical 2b...range/glove not much arm. He has 85 negative plays over 430 or so games.

Good call, bb07.
This guy was -34 in season 1 in a little over 1200 innings (and worse in season 2 when his ratings declined). A similarly rated righthanded player in the same world goes about -2 per 1200 innings currently... so being lefthanded seems to cost about a negative play every 40 innings or so. That's a lot of defense to give up.

Ok thanks guys. I won’t risk it then as the team I was going to do it with is a contender built on elite D. Thanks for everyone’s advice.

Something that seems to have come over the years here...and something I often forget about. But the consensus always seems to come back - "don't do it".