I think all three of us agree on that. Doing nothing will not make you better. If you want to teach a kid to pitch, you don't play/practice him in LF.

But, as you mentioned earlier, in your experience, HBD doesn't seem to work like that. I agree.

And, again, I think we agree that encouraging us to play 1B at SS to maximize his potential seems silly. No one would do that in the real world.

Quote: Originally posted by MikeT23 on 3/05/2010I think all three of us agree on that.   Doing nothing will not make you better.   If you want to teach a kid to pitch, you don't play/practice him in LF.   But, as you mentioned earlier, in your experience, HBD doesn't seem to work like that.  I agree.And, again, I think we agree that encouraging us to play 1B at SS to maximize his potential seems silly. No one would do that in the real world.

I think the reason it doesn't happen in RL is something that doesn't exist in HBD - the psyche of the player. In RL, failure/success at one facet of the game impacts others.

If you took a stud hitting prospect who was - at best - a ML 1B and played him at SS, his development would be stunted by the fact he kicked the ball all around the INF, cost his team a handful of runs a game, was mocked mercilessly by fans, and had his life threatened by the pitchers he made look bad every game.

Those reasons (and maybe others) are why no one does it in the RL. Those things don't exist in HBD.

And I'm not saying they should be incorporated into HBD (that's a whole different can of worms). I'm just saying that logically, with the constraints that exist in HBD, it *should* help a player reach his potential by playing the most challenging position possible. And developers have suggested the same.

Of course, you have to balance the benefit that *should* be there for playing the 1B at SS against the benefit that exists for making the postseason and getting extra playing time there.

Odds are, if you have only one prospect at a level and he's a huge defensive liability that you're not doing well record wise and are unlikely to go deep into the playoffs.

Ideally, the postseason benefit would be weight enough that good owners managed their minor leagues in a winning fashion.

I just drafted a 2nd baseman that will have to play a Corner outfield spot in the bigs.

Would I be better served to move him now and play him in LF or RF or leave him as a 2B until he is ready for the majors?

Does it really matter?

Most of us believe it doesn't matter. ADMIN says it does.

Thanks Mike.

I didn't really understand all that, but I have a specific question. I have a 20 year old catcher who has a chance to be a superstar. He was blowing everyone out in AAA; I promoted him to ML, where he is playing about 50% of the time. Am I better off to demote him to AAA, or let him stay in ML?

Quote: Originally posted by blasters79 on 3/06/2010I just drafted a 2nd baseman that will have to play a Corner outfield spot in the bigs.

Would I be better served to move him now and play him in LF or RF or leave him as a 2B until he is ready for the majors?

Does it really matter?

admin says it matters, i haven't seen data to the contrary, i'm inclined to go with admin's opinion on this...

Quote: Originally posted by MikeT23 on 3/05/2010I think all three of us agree that it doesn't work that way.But, if it did................Wouldn't it be wise to play a 1B at SS if he was the only legit prospect at that level?

no, i believe admin also said if a guy plays very poorly at a position the benefit of playing him a tougher position is lost...

a 1B making 80 negative plays and 50 errors wouldn't benefit a whole lot from playing SS, according to what admin has stated...

September 21, 2007 Devo Chat

Q - Is a player's defensive improvement dictated by his position? For example, will a player who projects 95s across the board defensively improve faster (or come closer to his projections) playing shortstop than he would if he played field? It seems there is a ceiling on improvement of certain ratings at certain positions. (examinerebb - Hall of Famer - 4:43 PM)

A - The skill and rate at which a player can improve is tied to the position he's playing. A projected SS will take longer to reach his peak fielding ability if he's playing 1B everyday as opposed to SS everyday. In fact, if you stick him at 1B he may never come close to his peak.

Same devo chat

Q - With regards to your answer above on players being hurt defensively if they can't play a position well - how does this impact developing SS for example - who also can't play SS well yet? (bigyunit - All*Star - 2:33 PM)

A - If that player is capable to play the position at some time in his career he will not be hurt by it. I'm assuming you are suggesting a minor leaguer here and we definitely account for that level of play. So a SS at Low A can get by making some errors and poor plays because he hasn't reached his full potential yet.

I've seen no evidence that playing poorly has a negative effect on development. None.

Quote: Originally posted by coneheads on 3/08/2010I didn't really understand all that, but I have a specific question.  I have a 20 year old catcher who has a chance to be a superstar.  He was blowing everyone out in AAA; I promoted him to ML, where he is playing about 50% of the time.  Am I better off to demote him to AAA, or let him stay in ML?

You might want to get him into more than 50% of the games, or else you might hurt his development. If you demote him, you get hit with a demotion penalty (depending on the patience/makeup of the player). If you want to safely demote a player, wait for a player to come off the DL, and demote with the same move as activating from the DL. Make sure there is space on your AAA team, or else it's for nothing.

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