Quote:
Originally Posted by t-bone shuffle
This and I'll take it a step further and say that this applies at SS as well. I'd say almost all really good defensive SS's have at least above average MLB level speed. Like your example above, someone like Andrelton Simmons is a great fielding SS who doesn't have big time speed, but he can do everything else on the defensive side of the ball as to make him essentially elite. Too often (and I'd say this is almost exclusively a fictional thing), I'll see a SS carrying a range of 8, and a speed of 3 (1 to 10 scale).
Along with this I'll continue my feeling that there needs to be some type of "athleticism" rating. To try and find a way to determine if a player can/should be a candidate to learn new positions. For every Mookie, who could certainly play an acceptable level at any IF position, there is a Trout who would look to have all the necessary tools, but almost certainly couldn't play MLB level SS or 2B (IMO). I do think this is a fictional issue mostly and just something I'd like to see in some form.
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Well, from personal anecdotal experience, the speed "seems" like it could be right. Quickness and speed aren't the same thing. I used to be pretty good in the infield or pitcher as a big guy. I could "burst" pretty well, but never could sustain a good run enough to be in the outfield for example, or stretch a single into a double. By the time I got to first I'd be pretty out of breath, lol. But a quick shot, knowing the position and moving on the pitch, etc I could move pretty well over the short range. Just don't hit three in a row to me
