Dr Winston O'Boogie;824571 wrote:Why are baseball players' offensive production results correlated with their position? What I mean is that sometimes I'll hear commentators talking about a player being moved from one defensive position to another all on account of an increase or decrease in his offensive stats.

Why does it matter where a player plays in the field when considering his plate performance?

karen lotz;824579 wrote:Can you give an example? The only thing I can think of would be moving a catcher to first base, which should be fairly obvious how that would help with offensive production. Other than that, I've never heard of a defensive move directly impacting someone's offense.

BR1986FB;824586 wrote:As an example, a 3rd baseman is expected to have more of a "power bat' than say a 2nd baseman. Doesn't really have anything to do with switching positions. There are just greater offensive expectations from certain positions.

Heretic;824591 wrote:And more defensive expectations with certain positions. If you're a good fielding catcher or shortstop who is batting under .250 and doesn't have much power, you'll get playing time. If you're a first baseman with those numbers, you'll likely be on shakier ground, since the fielding demands for that position are less.

Kind of like with center field. Good hitting is nice, but if they can cover a lot of ground and make plays, having a power bat isn't the same sort of necessity as it might be for left or right field.

sleeper;824589 wrote:Baseball doesn't make any sense, and the only reason they talk about crap like this is to keep people distracted while the pitcher takes a half hour to make a pitch. The game is a joke, better to just turn the TV off then try and understand the third worst televised sport in world history(right after Nascar and Golf).

Dr Winston O'Boogie;824603 wrote:Heretic and OneBuckeye,

Your explanations make sense. I can see where both talent pool and fielding requirements would make a difference. HEre's a specific question BR1986FB raises with me: does third base requrie more power hitting than say second base because it is a less demanding defensive position?

Sonofanump;824720 wrote: It might be tough for Cleveland fans to buy into this since you would think Santana at C would free up a power hitting 1B instead of playing a light hitting catcher.

BR1986FB;824758 wrote:This was discussed on WKNR with the return of Laporta. The thought was that because the Tribe is heavily weighted with left handed hitters that they might consider putting Laporta (righty) back in the OF (for Choo), putting Santana (switch hitter) at 1st and putting the light hitting/better defensive Marson (righty) at catcher to get more right handed sticks in the lineup.