Playing out of postion
You can use a player at a defensive position for which he is not
rated, but his performance will suffer. How much? It depends.
Players can make a relatively painless transition to an easier
position that is similar to one they're already rated for. The
penalties are much greater for moving to a very different position
that is also more difficult to play.
For example, a CF can play LF or RF without suffering much at
all. Both positions are similar and easier than the one he's rated
for. A LF or RF moving to CF has a more difficult time because
there's more ground to cover. Similarly, a move from SS to 2B won't
cost you too much, while a move from 2B to SS will hurt more. And
the moves that will hurt the most are (a) from any position to
catcher, (b) a catcher moving to any position except 1B, and (c) a
1B moving to CF or another infield position.
How will these penalties show up? In lots of ways. More balls in
their zones will go for hits. They'll make more errors. Guys
without outfielder throwing or catcher throwing ratings will be
easier to run on. Unrated catchers will have more passed balls.
Unrated middle infielders won't start as many double plays on balls
hit to them, and they won't turn two as often when they're the
pivot man on the play. Pitchers without hold ratings will be easier
to run on.
You might ask why we apply penalties even when a player is
moving to a less difficult position. Couldn't a top-rated SS play
2B as well or better than the average 2B? In the many years that
we've been assigning fielding ratings, we've seen a lot of players
get higher ratings when they make the transition from a harder
position to an easier one (especially SS -> 2B, 3B -> 1B, and
CF -> LF), but we've also seen plenty of cases where the player
needed some time to learn how to play the new position.
Every position requires mastery of a different set of skills. A
CF moving to RF needs to learn how to play the caroms on balls hit
down in the corner. A 3B needs great reflexes to handle the hot
smashes that come his way, and that might not be the strong suit of
a middle infielder moving to 3B. A SS moving to 2B must learn how
to make the pivot with his back to the runner.
If our out-of-position adjustments
assumed that every player could instantly adapt to a new position,
even an easier one, we think it would create too many opportunities
for managers to abuse the game by moving players around in ways
that real-life managers would never get away with. So the game
imposes penalties of varying degrees on all out-of-position
players.
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