Spring Training -- try new position?

[tylertoo]

What are the risks to putting a player in a new position during ST to add versatility. Would it hurt his rating at his primary position? Greater risk injury?

Specifically, I have an aging stud 1B, 5 out of 10 at 1B position, no ratings at any other positions. I was thinking of putting him at 3B some of the time during ST to get something of a position rating at the other corner.* Good idea or bad?



*Edit: His specific defensive ratings are IF range 4, IF error 7, IF arm 5, turn DP 5... all out of 10.

[Jaxxvain]

Originally Posted by tylertoo

What are the risks to putting a player in a new position during ST to add versatility. Would it hurt his rating at his primary position? Greater risk injury?

Specifically, I have an aging stud 1B, 5 out of 10 at 1B position, no ratings at any other positions. I was thinking of putting him at 3B some of the time during ST to get something of a position rating at the other corner.* Good idea or bad?



*Edit: His specific defensive ratings are IF range 4, IF error 7, IF arm 5, turn DP 5... all out of 10.

with those ratings he should probably just DH.

To answer your questions though, I am not sure if there is any negative effects on cross training. Previous versions of OOTP had actual "points" you could use to "train" a player. It was expensive "points"-wise to train a player at a new position, so his other skills, such as hitting would suffer (or should I say not have the ability to improve?).

And going from 1b to 3b was a lot harder to train than going from 3b to 1b.

[Alan T]

My tests are that playing a player at a different position won't adversely effect hitting or other positions. It just means less development time for their primary position I suppose. A few flaws in my mind with your plan though...


- I don't see from experience that spring training really gives much experience for players learning new positions. If he picks up anything at all, it will be negligible. You are better off teaching young players new positions in the minors while coming up really.

- With his fielding ratings, I doubt he'll be that good at 3B anyway, if he even manages to develop any positional experience there which is also not that strong of a chance of ever being more than 1 at 3B in my guess.

[vtotter]

Originally Posted by tylertoo

What are the risks to putting a player in a new position during ST to add versatility. Would it hurt his rating at his primary position? Greater risk injury?

Specifically, I have an aging stud 1B, 5 out of 10 at 1B position, no ratings at any other positions. I was thinking of putting him at 3B some of the time during ST to get something of a position rating at the other corner.* Good idea or bad?



*Edit: His specific defensive ratings are IF range 4, IF error 7, IF arm 5, turn DP 5... all out of 10.

I believe younger players are more likely to pick up a new position and will learn faster in the minors/spring training... so your "aging" player may not take to it.

I asked a similar question here before, and got a variety of replies with no consensus. Here is a comparable (though young) player I moved from 1B to 3B due to a positional logjam. It took him about a season (half in the minors, half in the majors, plus a spring training) to max out at a 4 in 3B rating. He has actually been a pretty decent 3B (after some initial minor league butchery)...much better than i expected.

Player Report for #12 Justin Smoak

[Nutlaw]

Yeah, you should definitely have that guy work at third base. Particularly if his intelligence/work ethic scores are high, he should learn enough to be an emergency backup. He should be able to learn a poor second base as well, I believe.

I always cross train my position players to play whatever positions they can learn. There doesn't seem to be any drawback to it whatsoever.

[udbacker58]

How is he only a 5 at 1B with those ratings?

I would try to play him at 3B. With those ratings he should be able to get up to a 3; though if he is aging, his fielding ratings will be falling, reducing his ability to gain a rating at 3B (or losing the one he gets), forcing him back to 1B.

[tylertoo]

Thanks everyone, that helps explain things.

Originally Posted by udbacker58

How is he only a 5 at 1B with those ratings?

Not sure.

Player Report for #88 Jeff 'BagPipes' Bagwell

But he sure can hit.