Quote:
Originally Posted by CBL-Commish
What's a reasonable level of skill? If you mean "well enough to not embarass himself in the majors" I think you're wrong. I don't think anyone should be able to move to any position just because they're 19. There are high school players who are first basemen because they don't have the range to play anywhere else. There are outfielders who simply don't have the reaction time or hands to play the infield well (or even adequately).
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Well, I think what ctorg may have been saying is that given an athletically and defensively gifted enough 19 y/o, which is (I would think) a majority of players getting drafted, they should be able to learn new positions over the course of their minor league careers. Obviously the Prince Fielder's and Ryan Howard's of the world wouldn't become decent enough center fielder's not to embarass themselves, even when they were 19.
But there is a pretty high number of players in low minors that switch positions all the time. It's that old saying, "If you can hit a baseball well enough, a team will find you a place to play." That doesn't necessarily seem to ring true in OOTP '07.
I've played my aforementioned 1B at LF for over 1000 innings at the rookie and short season A levels and haven't seen any kind of OF ratings bump. Also no experience bump. He's almost serviceable out there (about 12 errors, but a very low RF). After another 1000 innings or so, if I see no improvement, I may just have to 'improve' him myself.