I have a very young catcher who can hit the crap out of the ball but his fielding just isn't quite there yet....my question is will his fielding ratings still increase if I just DH him this season?

Yes.

thanks strikeout

You'd think that's how it would work, but it's not.

The only factor that counts towards ratings progress is games played, regardless of what position they are set at. Make sure your prospects play as many games as possible at whatever position you want to play them at.

You can use this quirky mechanic to maximize prospect development in the minors while at the same time reducing their chance of injury. Oftentimes I don't start my stud, cream of the crop, prospects when they are developing in the minors. That's because I make sure they get in every single game of the season for an inning or two as a rest replacement, oftentimes at the DH position. This reduces their chance of getting injured because they only play a few innings each game and they can only get injured batting/running, not in the field. This strategy has never hindered one of my prospects fielding development.

If a prospect plays one out, throws one pitch, or gets one PA, they've checked the box for getting credit for that game. Playing the entire game doesn't help them progress anymore than playing one out does.

Thanks for the detailed response, Brian.

I've had a handful of catchers who DH'd exclusively in the low minors, and their ratings improved significantly enough that I began using them as Catchers in AAA and even the Majors.

Posted by brianplath on 8/30/2019 6:19:00 PM (view original):
You'd think that's how it would work, but it's not.

The only factor that counts towards ratings progress is games played, regardless of what position they are set at. Make sure your prospects play as many games as possible at whatever position you want to play them at.

You can use this quirky mechanic to maximize prospect development in the minors while at the same time reducing their chance of injury. Oftentimes I don't start my stud, cream of the crop, prospects when they are developing in the minors. That's because I make sure they get in every single game of the season for an inning or two as a rest replacement, oftentimes at the DH position. This reduces their chance of getting injured because they only play a few innings each game and they can only get injured batting/running, not in the field. This strategy has never hindered one of my prospects fielding development.

If a prospect plays one out, throws one pitch, or gets one PA, they've checked the box for getting credit for that game. Playing the entire game doesn't help them progress anymore than playing one out does.

This is ridiculous, and if they ever get around to updating the game, should be a priority.

I agree.