I feel like I'm probably too experienced to be asking this question but this is actually a really tough one. I have a high draft pick and high college scouting budget. Both players are identical age. Which should I rank as the higher of the two?

Switch Hitter (2B):

Event	Season	HT	WT	ov	ra	gl	as	aa	pc	du	he	sp	pa	tm	ma
Projected	-	6-0	202	84	94	83	56	60	9	84	85	78	89	64	32

Batting & Pitching Ratings

Event	Season	cn	pw	vl	vr	ey	br	bu	pp
Projected	-	76	58	89	73	76	64	62	31	32	6	11	19	1	41	66	0	0	0	0

Pros: Switch hitter, possibly more accurate fielding ratings, better splits, healthy and durable
Cons: Terrible makeup, much lower power/speed/eye/contact


Lefty hitter (LF):

Event	Season	HT	WT	ov	ra	gl	as	aa	pc	du	he	sp	pa	tm	ma
Projected	-	6-1	199	93	100	83	41	71	21	88	57	88	100	48	98

Batting & Pitching Ratings

Event	Season	cn	pw	vl	vr	ey	br	bu	pp
Projected	-	91	78	83	59	95	63	71	65	33	19	13	3	22	25	52	0	0	0	0

Pros: Elite makeup/contact/eye, very good power (but below average for LF), good speed
Cons: righty split sucks, Very concerned that range and glove are not accurate since he's listed as 'LF', low health

I think if that Lefty LF can actually play CF, then I have to go with him. But those projected ratings for range and glove scare me. I've been burned like this so many times. I see projected fielding ratings for guys that don't match the position they are listed at, and only once have I ever actually seen this work out in my favor post-draft.

How high is your budget? Because I agree. The LF ratings look real shaky. Not range/glove but AS/AA. 41 AS, 71 AA? Don't see that often.

The 2B could play CF too and his ratings look far more normal.

I'd go with the first guy. I find that switch hitters usually provide much more consistent performance that LH or RH hitters because they never experience the "wrong handed" bias. Also, the LH hitter with the weak vsR split is a huge red flag.

I think the reason why the lefty is listed as a LF is because of his weak arm strength (41), not because of any inaccuracy in his range/glove ratings.

Posted by MikeT23 on 6/7/2017 6:31:00 PM (view original):
How high is your budget? Because I agree. The LF ratings look real shaky. Not range/glove but AS/AA. 41 AS, 71 AA? Don't see that often.

The 2B could play CF too and his ratings look far more normal.

My budget is $18m

I go with the 2B because he can play CF and his bat is well above average for a CF. The low VR for a LH hitter turns me off.

I'll go against the grain on this one. I like the left fielder. As a leftie he will be a tough out against righties to begin with. The numbers look skewed but that combination of contact, power and eye could be deadly if they pan out. Guy should have a very high OBP.

That "LF"s downside on rng/glo is around 90/73 at $18M scouting, but probably won't get that low. You're also gonna have to pay him something like $2.5-3M more a season. If you're medical isn't $20M I'd def go with the 2B, otherwise kind of a toss up for me.

Hey tec, I never pay attention to arm accuracy or arm stregnth for any positions player except SS and C. This is a good call. He probably does that have range and glove (or close to it) but is listed that way because of his arm. I'd still play him in CF, no doubt about it. But this brings up an interesting side point. I'd bet my lack of attention paid to those arm ratings is a big reason why I'm often burned by the ratings and listed position mismatch. Thanks for the heads-up, I'm going to make sure to really pay attention to that in the future.

There's another guy in my draft (who I'm not considering as a first round pick because he can't hit) who projects to 100 range and 65 glove but is listed as a 1B! Now that I'm cognizant of this advice you gave me, I looked at his arm and it is 39 arm stregnth. I don't know where I'd play that guy.

He'd rack up plus plays at 1B or LF.

I know your budget is 18m, but here's my two cents: as soon as I drop off 20 mil in any type of scouting I start to see those anomalous ratings; one or two that don't look right. Like MikeT23 said; you don't often see 41 AS/71 AA. The system doesn't generate those types of players on a regular basis.

Similarly, the 1B projecting to 100 Range, I see at least one of those in the category where I have $0 scouting, College or HS. I know it's a BS rating, right? So the guesswork is that if you see one or two strange ratings, what does that mean for the others?

Conversely, when I see a player with no wacky ratings, I think maybe the system is telling me "I didn't try to fool you with this one." My only concern with that 2B is that the Range/Glove might fall short, my experience is that generally the system projects high on Range/Glove no matter how much scouting you have. I think you'd have to be prepared that neither of these players might end up in CF, in which case the 2B becomes more position versatile.

I'm with Hockey here-- you're ratings could be fairly far off (7 points or so high across the board) and the "LF" would still be a better player than the "2B." Plus, the makeup of 32 is a little concerning on the 2B.

By the way, if you're really not looking at AS/AA for 3B, you should. Not there are ever any 3B prospects that are any good, but in terms of evaluating major league players.

Part II of this is if the LF legit does have low health and you have $20 med I'm salivating. A few good injuries can make up for bad scouting real fast.

"Very concerned that range and glove are not accurate since he's listed as 'LF'"

My opinion is that out of range-100 glove-83 AS- 41 AA-71, it's way more likely that the AS-41 is an under-projected outlier than all of the other three being over-projected outliers (100 range is always over-projected but it's not like he's going to be over-projected by 30.. the other two are in the vicinity of where they are supposed to be for a qualifying CF).

Your concerns are valid about health and vR, but those considerations are mitigated by 99 makeup (bigger medical boosts and better career longevity) and the fact that he is a lefty-hitter softens the blow of 78 vL 59 vR. If he was a L hitter with 59 vL and 78 vR you could possibly be making an argument for future platooning hurting his future value (probably not a great argument...) but when the splits are in that direction then you can still play him every day and that's fine. Player Profile: Freddy Lawrence plays every day, life goes on

Take the 93 OVR and move along, don't overthink. If he qualifies at CF then that's just gravy, if he's "just" a LF then he's still super-duper ++ defensively and you have an MVP candidate

You guys all have some very good points and are making this even tougher on me. I went with $20 Training and $18 medical this year and plan to keep that for the foreseeable future no matter which player I draft.