Take a look at this guy's defensive stats in the minor leagues the last three seasons. Now look at his ratings.

Mateo Cantu

He's not a good defensive player and the stats bear that out. But I feel like his stats are way better than I expect for a 2b with those ratings that are way under the recs for his position. Am I getting lucky year after year after year? What would you expect from Cantu as a ML 2b?

He has no + plays and a bunch of - plays.

I'd expect more of that. I'd look at him as a LF. Maybe even a RF if his arm ratings were a bit better.

I wouldn't play him at 2B at the ML level. A LF with some plus plays due to range, in my opinion.

Minor league stats are virtually meaningless.

Posted by mal247 on 8/19/2016 5:44:00 PM (view original):
Minor league stats are virtually meaningless.

True, for hitting and pitching.

Defense, there's probably more validity to defensive stats with the exception of +/-. Those seem to "adjust" to lower levels, so probably are not meaningful.

I already have good players at 1b, LF, and RF, so I'm going to play him at 2b. I want to know if his AAA defensive stats can be what I expect for a ML 2b--because they are much better than what I would have predicted and I can live with 11 errors and 8 minus plays because I am in serious need of power in my lineup and I need his 30 home runs. I will probably let him sit on the bench vs many LH pitchers and play a better defensive player. I will also shift Cantu put to LG in the 8th inning for defensive substitutions.

Tony Bong is the closest comp I can find in one of my worlds. His glove is +8 better than your guy, but the other defensive ratings are close. Your guy will make more errors because the variation does not seem to be linear the further you get away from recs.