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Way back when (I think it's been a year ago now), I came up with a tools-based defensive system. You'd have several different abilities that would each help to determine how much talent a player might have at a certain position, and then on top of that they'd develop a proficiency at it over time. Here's a brief synopsis of what I'd have:
Arm Strength: Useful for catchers, shortstops, third basemen, and outfielders.
Quickness (think: first step): Used by 2B, SS, and 3B.
Speed: Used by OFers, especially CF.
Height: Used by 1B (to keep teams from sticking any old guy at the spot).
Intelligence: Used by everybody, but especially defensive-intensive positions like 2B, SS, C, and CF.
Utilizing this, I think, would go a long way towards dissuading teams from teaching a poor fielder to play short and then living with his bad fielding. In this system, for a guy to play short at ALL, he'd have to have good ratings at quickness, arm, and intelligence. Conversely, it would make positional changes realistic; catchers fill in at and move to third and right field all the time, where they can use their arm, but very rarely to second.
John Craven
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