Change position mid-season?

[Bobfather]

What is the best way to teach a player a new position? I would like to move Alex Bregman to 2B. There were rumours last offseason that that was the original plan when he signed with the Red Sox. He seems to have the ratings to be a good 2B. 2B has been my biggest offensive black hole all season. I just traded back for Devers, who will slot into 3B. But both players are currently on the IL for a month. Thanks. If the solution is to edit experience, please make a compelling argument that it is not cheating. I would have just edited it in the past, but I no longer wish to do that. In real life, I would just have him take groundballs at second while on the IL.

[david limbaugh]

Originally Posted by Bobfather

What is the best way to teach a player a new position? I would like to move Alex Bregman to 2B. There were rumours last offseason that that was the original plan when he signed with the Red Sox. He seems to have the ratings to be a good 2B. 2B has been my biggest offensive black hole all season. I just traded back for Devers, who will slot into 3B. But both players are currently on the IL for a month. Thanks. If the solution is to edit experience, please make a compelling argument that it is not cheating. I would have just edited it in the past, but I no longer wish to do that. In real life, I would just have him take groundballs at second while on the IL.

Me - "how does ootp26 development labs work - can a player learn a new position during the season?"

AI - "Good questions. Here’s how the Out of the Park Baseball 26 (OOTP 26) “Development Lab” works — and whether a player can learn a new position mid-season.


ChatGPT: "✅ What is the Development Lab in OOTP 26

The “Player Development Lab” (Dev Lab) is a feature where you assign a limited number of players to specialized training programs in the offseason (and sometimes spring training) to work on skills: defense, pitching, base-running, stealing, plate discipline, even learning a new position if possible.
OOTP Wiki
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Steam Community
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In OOTP 26 you can configure how many players you send (lab size — by default 8, but you can raise it up to 30).
OOTP Wiki
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You get improved UI feedback: progress bars, midterm reports (so you can see if a player is progressing or struggling), giving you more control over whether to continue a program.
Sports Gamers Online
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The effectiveness of a lab program depends on multiple factors: the player’s age, personality (e.g. adaptability), current ratings, coaching staff quality, and — for defensive/position-work — likely how “natural” the switch is (how close the new position is on the “defensive spectrum”).
OOTP Developments Forum
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OOTP Wiki
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�� Learning a New Position: How It Works in OOTP (and with Dev Lab)

In general, in OOTP (not just with Dev Lab) a player can learn a new position by playing games at that position. Over time — typically by playing regularly, especially in the minors or spring training — they’ll build “experience” at that position. Once enough experience is gained, the game will assign a new position rating for that position, which appears on the player’s profile.
ootpdevfiles.com
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OOTP Wiki
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The game uses a “defensive-spectrum” hierarchy for how easy or hard conversion is: easiest are positions like 1B or corner outfield (LF/RF), harder are more demanding positions like SS, 2B, CF — and catcher is the hardest to convert to.
ootpdevfiles.com
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According to official documentation, once a player “learns” a new position (i.e. gets a rating), he never “loses” that rating.
ootpdevfiles.com
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How Dev Lab Interacts With Position Learning

The Dev Lab offers a “Learn new position” program (or “Improve Defense at [position] / Infield / Outfield / Catcher” depending on what is already unlocked) among its available training options.
Notion
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However: In the case of the “Learn new position” program, you cannot directly choose which new position the player will learn. Instead, the staff/the game pick the new position based on what they deem feasible.
OOTP Developments Forum
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The benefit of using the Dev Lab (versus just playing games at the position) is that — if successful — the lab not only starts the position experience/training, but often gives a small rating boost for that position (e.g. jump from unskilled/unrated to some baseline defensive rating).
Notion
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OOTP Developments Forum
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Because of that, many players use the lab to “force-teach” a new position (especially one somewhat adjacent on the defensive spectrum) to add positional versatility.
reddit.com
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reddit.com
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�� Can a Player Learn a New Position During the Season (Not Off-Season / Spring Training)?

Here’s where things get more nuanced:

The “official” mechanism to gain experience at a new position is by playing games in that position — that works whether it’s spring training, minors, or the regular season.
OOTP Wiki
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That said: the Dev Lab training programs are designed for offseason or spring training. The Dev Lab window — at least traditionally — opens offseason and remains until just before the season begins.
reddit.com
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OOTP Wiki
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According to community discussion on the developer forums: the “Learn a new position” assignment in Dev Lab does not let you pick which position; and the Dev Lab is meant as an offseason/spring-training tool, not a mid-season fix.
OOTP Developments Forum
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Many players on forums suggest that if you want a player to learn a new position, it’s best done in spring training or minors, not during a full season — though nothing seems to strictly prohibit you from trying to rotate them into a new position mid-season; but that has to rely on “just playing them there” — not the Dev Lab. For example:

“players learn positions quicker during spring training … Force start them in the player strategy.”
reddit.com
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“Players gain XP by simply playing a position … closer a player is to the max XP for a position, the slower the XP gain is.”
reddit.com
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So — yes, a player can learn a new position during the regular season, but only by actually deploying them at that position in games (or minors), accumulating enough experience. The Dev Lab’s “learn new position” program is generally not intended for mid-season use.

⚠️ What to Know / What’s Limited

With Dev Lab, you don’t control which position gets learned — the game (through staff) picks a “sensible” new position.
OOTP Developments Forum
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Converting to “right-side of spectrum” spots (e.g. SS, 2B, CF, or catcher) is much harder and takes longer than easier spots (1B, corner outfield). Some positions — especially catcher — may never result in a strong defensive quality, even if trained.
ootpdevfiles.com
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OOTP Wiki
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If the player is older, has low adaptability/work ethic, or doesn’t have suitable physical attributes (arm, range, etc.), the conversion will be slow or may fail.
reddit.com
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The Dev Lab programs are of varying difficulty; “Improve Defense” and “Learn new position” are marked as hard once you get out of base-running or bunting drills. So outcome is uncertain and could be nothing or even negative.
OOTP Wiki
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OOTP Wiki
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�� My Recommendation (Given What You’re Doing — Custom Schedules / Mods / OOTP Use)

Since you already use OOTP heavily (with custom schedules etc.), if you want to convert a player’s position:

Use the Dev Lab over offseason/spring training if possible — especially for easy conversions (e.g. 1B ↔ corner outfield, or similar spectrum-adjacent moves).

If you miss that, during the regular season you can still move a player to a new spot — just ride out the experience accumulation by giving them regular playing time there.

Don’t expect a “quick-flip” to a Gold Glove level — conversions take time, patience, and realistic expectations, especially for tougher positions.

If you like — I can run through the exact Dev Lab “Learn New Position” odds and mechanics in the current 2025 patch of OOTP 26 (how fast XP builds, how big a rating bump, typical conversion success rates).
Do you want me to grab those numbers for you now (based on recent patch notes / dev documentation)?"

[venflaalachi]

During the season, you can't do much other than playing him at second and letting him take his lumps out there. In the offseason, you can run a dev lab to teach him a new position or gain expereince, I think.

It's your game but I don't like using the editor. If you do it mid-season, just know Bregman will commit some errors out there as he gains experience.

[Bobfather]

Yes, but I want to do this during the season. Think Mookie Betts moving to 2B during the season, or Devers moving to 1B during the season. (Devers is a better example as he had infield ratings) I have a 3B I would like to move to 2B. His ratings for infiled are, Range 61, Error 67, Arm 65, Turn DP 43.

[Bluenoser]

Does he have any ratings at 2B now? Screen shot would help.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by Bobfather

Yes, but I want to do this during the season. Think Mookie Betts moving to 2B during the season, or Devers moving to 1B during the season. (Devers is a better example as he had infield ratings) I have a 3B I would like to move to 2B. His ratings for infiled are, Range 61, Error 67, Arm 65, Turn DP 43.

Mookie is a bad example. He came up through the minors as a 2B so his experience was extensive. It was the OF he learned in 2014-ish. IL groundballs are not experience at the MLB level. I think you take the lumps. He won't be terrible as he has IF ratings... he just needs to gain experience and those in-game lumps are akin to real life.

[StratMan]

In past versions of the game, playing a player at a position for just 1-3 innings a game gave you the same benefit as the entire game.

CoPilot AI suggests in OOTP 26, experience is gained by inning and actual chances. It implies that experience point gains are constant (not true in earlier versions) but the relative ratings and performance gains are faster when experience is low.

Experience from 0-50 is most critical to outcomes, 50-150 less so, and over 150 will improve much slower.

Haven't tested this fully to check its veracity.

So - you may want to play Bregman at 2B any time the game gets wide for a bit before playing him there full time.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by StratMan

...

So - you may want to play Bregman at 2B any time the game gets wide for a bit before playing him there full time.

Bingo. Just like we save our worst relievers for games that aren't close, train players at new positions then as well.

Other than training players at 1B, I haven't trained players at new positions in a while, but I was a bit surprised it didn't seem to cause a bunch of errors at 1B. What it might cause, however, is players just not getting to the ball at all and that isn't as easy to notice unless the play-by-play explicitly points it out. So maybe don't just rely on looking for errors and instead read the pbp closely.

Also, you mentioned he's on the IL. Take advantage of the opportunity and put him on a rehab assignment in the minors at 2B. Even with just a few games under his belt he might get a minimal rating there and then you can maybe some confidence he won't be a nightmare at 2B in the majors.

[Bobfather]

Both Devers and Bregman are on the IR. Both are due to come back in late September. Bregman a couple of days before devers. So it looks like I won't be able to make the switch to the offseason and either devers or schwarber will have to choose between schwarber and devers to be my DH. Which I really don't want to do because I need them both in the lineup. But I can't afford to have a lousy second baseman out there either. My original plan was to put Bregman on a rehab assignment but my AAA team league will be over by then.

[Pelican]

I have, on occasion, by informal House Rule, gone under the hood and increased a player's "Experience" at a particular position, with a corresponding decrease at another position. Zero sum game. Of course, I only do this where the player has some numerical rating at the new position. I think what the 0/100 for instance ratings mean is that the guy once played that position, but not currently. Mookie would have had infield ratings based on history, even if he had no "current" experience.

Spring Training is the best way to accomplish this without the hack, by simply playing the guy every day at the new position. Ideally that would be around thirty games or over 250 innings of experience. That should move the needle.

[Bobfather]

Originally Posted by Pelican

I have, on occasion, by informal House Rule, gone under the hood and increased a player's "Experience" at a particular position, with a corresponding decrease at another position. Zero sum game. Of course, I only do this where the player has some numerical rating at the new position. I think what the 0/100 for instance ratings mean is that the guy once played that position, but not currently. Mookie would have had infield ratings based on history, even if he had no "current" experience.

Spring Training is the best way to accomplish this without the hack, by simply playing the guy every day at the new position. Ideally that would be around thirty games or over 250 innings of experience. That should move the needle.

I started this league because I was editing everything on my team, getting unrealistic results. So I am avoiding any editing, even if it might make sense. But thank you for the suggestion.