*Differences between a RF, CF and LF*

[Lethal_Striker]

Higher levels you're going to get a lot more balls hit to RF since Righthanded hitters tend to pull the ball fairly often but lefties don't pull the ball quite as much. You don't see extreme fielding shifts on righthanded hitters like you do with lefties.

 

[iwhoopedbatman]

Higher levels you're going to get a lot more balls hit to RF since Righthanded hitters tend to pull the ball fairly often but lefties don't pull the ball quite as much. You don't see extreme fielding shifts on righthanded hitters like you do with lefties.

If righties pull, it goes to left. If Lefties don't pull, it doesn't go to right. Something is backwards here.

 

[Sharkey]

Thanks, i totally get it.

Awesome fielders like Andruw Jones and Edmonds are great examples of CFs.
Ishiro is a great RF (arm and glove).


And is there a major difference between a SS and a 2B?

I suppose the SS might have a slightly better arm since he's farther from 1B. That's all? One is supposed to be a better fielder?

In addition to a SS having a better arm you also want them to cover more range due to the fact that 15-16% of all balls put in play are hit to the SS side of 2B as opposed to 12-13% to the other side of 2B. This is due to there being more right handed hitters in baseball than there are left handed ones. At 17-18% only the CF has more balls hit to him than the SS.

So you want the better arm at SS, the better range to cover more ground at SS, and also the better glove due to them seeing more balls hit to them. Typically.

 

[DangDaGawd]

DH is for roided out 40 year olds who have damaged their bodies so badly with PEDs that they can't field anymore.

 

[armbarforhire]

In addition to a SS having a better arm you also want them to cover more range due to the fact that 15-16% of all balls put in play are hit to the SS side of 2B as opposed to 12-13% to the other side of 2B. This is due to there being more right handed hitters in baseball than there are left handed ones. At 17-18% only the CF has more balls hit to him than the SS.

So you want the better arm at SS, the better range to cover more ground at SS, and also the better glove due to them seeing more balls hit to them. Typically.

SS used to be a position were guys were signed based on their glove, if they could hit above .250 it was a bonus, Ozzie Smith was a start batting below .250 for the first half of his career.

Everyone talks about Cal Ripkens streak, but him being basically the first SS (unless there is someone I am missing) with a bat is probably equally impressive.

 

[Sharkey]

SS used to be a position were guys were signed based on their glove, if they could hit above .250 it was a bonus, Ozzie Smith was a start batting below .250 for the first half of his career.

Everyone talks about Cal Ripkens streak, but him being basically the first SS (unless there is someone I am missing) with a bat is probably equally impressive.

The Cubs had a pretty fine hitting shortstop back in the day named Ernie Banks. Or if you want to go way back, Honus Wagner was one of the top hitters around. There probably weren't too many elite offensive players playing the position, though. Robin Yount was around in Ripken's time (or just before), but I can't think of many others besides those three.

One of the most underrated things about Ripken was actually just how good he was as a defensive player too. Wasn't flashy at all in the Ozzie Smith sort of way. But he was just so rock solid with his glove and especially so with positioning (knew batters inside and out), and also had a tremendous arm. One of the best at turning the DP at his position too. Not sure he ever won a gold glove at the position, but he probably should have won it a few times if he didn't.

 

[armbarforhire]

The Cubs had a pretty fine hitting shortstop back in the day named Ernie Banks. Or if you want to go way back, Honus Wagner was one of the top hitters around. There probably weren't too many elite offensive players playing the position, though. Robin Yount was around in Ripken's time (or just before), but I can't think of many others besides those three.

One of the most underrated things about Ripken was actually just how good he was as a defensive player too. Wasn't flashy at all in the Ozzie Smith sort of way. But he was just so rock solid with his glove and especially so with positioning (knew batters inside and out), and also had a tremendous arm. One of the best at turning the DP at his position too. Not sure he ever won a gold glove at the position, but he probably should have won it a few times if he didn't.

I knew there were going to be people missing :icon_chee, tought Ripken was going to be at least #1 in HR but no.

 

[armbarforhire]

According to wiki.

He won 2 Gold Gloves in 91-92

He also holds the record for HR as a SS so I guess Banks moved to another postion during his career.

"Before the 1994 season, the Elias Sports Bureau informed the Orioles that Ripken had surpassed Ernie Banks for most career home runs as a shortstop with his 278th on July 15 against Scott Erickson.[92]"

 

[Sharkey]

I knew there were going to be people missing :icon_chee, tought Ripken was going to be at least #1 in HR but no.

Your whole originally point is still accurate for the most part, though, even if there were a few good to very good hitters at the position throughout history. It's one of maybe two positions (catcher being the other) where defensive ability is far the prominent asset to have at the position. You can be a .250 hitter (even an empty .250) with an OBP well under .300 and still be a very valuable asset to the team if you provide elite level defense. You really can't say that about any other position save for maybe catcher where teams are still looking for a little bit of pop from if you don't provide a semi-decent OBP. Previous to Ripken the Orioles had Mark Belanger playing SS and I'm pretty sure he added next to nothing offensively to the team (and the Orioles were a very good team during those years of memory serves), yet was still a longtime major league player because he had a deserved reputation of being the finest defensive SS in the game at the time (and one of the best all-time).

 

[Sharkey]

According to wiki.

He won 2 Gold Gloves in 91-92

He also holds the record for HR as a SS so I guess Banks moved to another postion during his career.

"Before the 1994 season, the Elias Sports Bureau informed the Orioles that Ripken had surpassed Ernie Banks for most career home runs as a shortstop with his 278th on July 15 against Scott Erickson.[92]"

Interesting.

Not surprised that he won a couple, but couldn't remember if he did or not in my previous post. He deserved that recognition for his defensive game. Again, not flashy in the least. But so solid with his glove and probably the best at positioning himself around in his day.

Now that you mention Banks moving positions, I think it may have been LF later in his career? Don't quote me on that, though.

 

[Sharkey]

Just looked it up and Banks predominantly played 1B for the last half of his career. I was way off with thinking he moved to LF.

 

[Madmick]

Center= emphasis on speed, best fielder
Left= emphasis on arm, 2nd best fielder
Right= the really fat guy who hits hard (in the American League he would DH by preference).

 

[iwhoopedbatman]

Ripken got screwed out of so many Gold Gloves it was absurd. His positioning was other-worldly. He also used to call pitches from SS. He set a record one year for best field percentage at SS and didn't win the Gold Glove because he wasn't incredibly fast and positioned himself so well he didn't have to dive at everything. His range may not have looked impressive to the eye, but he got to more balls than practically anyone.

 

[Easy The Great]

Centerfielders have to have massive range

 

[Sharkey]

Ripken got screwed out of so many Gold Gloves it was absurd. His positioning was other-worldly. He also used to call pitches from SS. He set a record one year for best field percentage at SS and didn't win the Gold Glove because he wasn't incredibly fast and positioned himself so well he didn't have to dive at everything. His range may not have looked impressive to the eye, but he got to more balls than practically anyone.

Pretty sure he was 2nd only to Ozzie in total chances per game at SS for the whole 1980's. Better than Tony Fernandez or any other SS around during that decade who had a reputation as being an elite defensive player at the position.

 

[Misfits138]

Center Fielder- Can cover ground and field
Right Fielder- Big arm
Left Fielder- Hiding a good hitter
Cecil Fielder-First Base/DH. Too fat to hide in left field
Prince Fielder-First Base. Also Fat and can hit ball hard

Lol in stitches but yeah they are big boned

 

[thebluerider]

where they stand

 

[DoUEvenLiftBro]

Stadiums a lot of times determine where you put the fielder. Like someone mentioned, Manny Ramirez was put in LF when he was a Red Sock and was used in RF as a Cleveland Indian. RFs have the big arms and can be either sluggish fielders or athletic. LF a lot of time has larger dimensions, so teams have LFs that are also capable of playing CF. There are slugs in LF for some teams though because they don't have the arm to play RF. But generally, defensive wise, 1. CF 2. LF 3. RF