Fielding development Majors vs Minors

[Officespace99]

Heres my situation

I have a Catcher who had an E rating in Fielding, so I took 2 points from his fielding in Spring training....as I tried to work on his strength (hitting)..and poof his fielding range was lost. Regardless I left him as my C assuming it would come back as he relearned the position. I am now 46 games into the season and he is hitting dependably (.281 11HR) , yet has 25 PB, thats 21 more then anyone else. He has yet to redevelop his range.

I am wondering if he would have a greater chance to redevelop as a C in AAA, or should I just leave him in the bigs. I can't really DH him or I will lose a more talented bat, yet my other C option is a good fielder .240 hitter with 7-9 HR power. I'm ok to lose his bat from the bigs for 2 weeks or so..if that'll make him an E fielder again, but if his chance of developing in the big leagues is just as good, I may as well keep him in the bigs and give him another 2-4 weeks depending on how I do.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Jon

[I Am The Game]

Might as well give him his 40 games see if it works. If not, may be time to switch him to DH or 1B until spring training when you try and teach him Catcher.

[PoisonMaddux]

Do players learn positions in the majors in the middle of a season?

I figured they would, but I'm not so sure. I played some of my Braves over the 2003 and 2004 season at several positions. I gave several fielders with no range at first base 20+ games at first, but none developed familiarity there..

Whatever the case, I wouldn't leave him at catcher. 1 passed ball and a few stolen bases every game might bite you in the @$$.

[I Am The Game]

I probably wouldn't have put him at Catcher in the first place, but give him 40 games there see if he re-develops it. After that I'd move him.

And to answer your question poison, usually it takes me 40 games in the majors to get a development for a position.

[PoisonMaddux]

40 games for an E rating. or is it sometimes better?

does anyone know how long in the minors?


I have a guy, David Noggle, in my 2005 season. He was the 2003 NY ROY and a LF. I have a good outfield going (Chipper, Andruw, Vlad) so I decided to have Noggle learn 1B in spring training.

Well I cut down on his power to allow him to learn a new position, I think I took defense down one notch too.

Anyways, he did not learn 1B. I guess lowering his defense screwed that up. Whatever the case, I moved Chipper to 3B, Noggle to LF, and aquired Ryan Klesko.

[Darkheath]

I had Shannon Stewart in a league rated "A" for LF but needed him in center. He now has a "B" rating in Center where he didn't before. So I know it happens... didn't seem to take too long either. I wouldn't try a catcher at SS tho'. May have to do with similar positions. LF to CF is not a terrible stretch.

[Bravo 1/5 USHA]

Here comes my lates newb question:

What's all this about spring training and lowering this rating to improve this and so on and so forth....never heard of these things. How are they done? What's the deal? Thanks in advance!

BRAVO 1/5 USHA

[I Am The Game]

Originally posted by PoisonMaddux
40 games for an E rating. or is it sometimes better?

does anyone know how long in the minors?


I have a guy, David Noggle, in my 2005 season. He was the 2003 NY ROY and a LF. I have a good outfield going (Chipper, Andruw, Vlad) so I decided to have Noggle learn 1B in spring training.

Well I cut down on his power to allow him to learn a new position, I think I took defense down one notch too.

Anyways, he did not learn 1B. I guess lowering his defense screwed that up. Whatever the case, I moved Chipper to 3B, Noggle to LF, and aquired Ryan Klesko.

In the minors it basically just all depends. I've had my SS learn 2B in one day, my RF learn LF in one week, my 2B learn 3B in 1 month, and my LF/RF learn CF in three months.

And I think it just goes one notch down of his primary. Like he said Stewart learned CF as a B because he was A in Left. A SS rated B usually learns 2B as a C. In Spring Training you can just change his primary to 2B and put more points into defense and make him a B or something.

[cooper_gd]

In v4 I had a guy that was a D Catcher play a full season (148 games inc days off) at 1B and he never learned. He was 27 nad I needed his bat. Generally, though, I usually see the change in a few weeks to a few months. It is usually 1 level lower than primary, but there might be a difficulty scale beacuse I have seen a C rated 2B become a B 1B. But there may have been other factors.

I'm not sure if they develop defense faster in the minors... I think you just do not want to try and teach a player a new position by platoon... he needs constant attention and AB (of maybe Def Inn) to develop.

Here is a thing that I have ran into . . . E rated OF generally can learn any position... it seems. I quite ofen change E rated corner OF to 2B, 1B, SS, 3B, whatever... and many of them multiple positions... I love these guys because if they develop a bat, they are quite valuable as util guys to fill in... and they never cost a bunch.

[cooper_gd]

As to the original topic - I have never seen a * rated guy across the board... I'm not sure how they work. But I am glad of this thread 'cause I've thought about doing the same thing (spring training tweak)before.