Toughest Position to play defense

livestrong4ever · Post #1 » by **livestrong4ever** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 5:07 am

A friend and I was discussing this earlier today. And he said center field was, and I was thinking that short stop or third base would be.
What do you think is, and why

Post #2 » by **TyCobb** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 5:18 am

Catcher. You have to call a game, get beat up by bad pitches and foul tips, wear heavy gear, squat down for half the game, be able to catch about 4 different pitchers on any given night, scout each hitters hitting charts.

No question catcher is the toughest position in baseball. Not even close.

livestrong4ever · Post #3 » by **livestrong4ever** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 5:25 am

i said to play defense. i didn't say toughest position over all.

Post #4 » by **TyCobb** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 5:30 am

And? What part of that isn't **** defense?

Posey H8er · Post #5 » by **Posey H8er** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 5:23 pm

Toughest to easiest.

C
SS
CF
3B
2B
1B
LF
RF

Post #6 » by **studcrackers** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 5:28 pm

right field is not the easiest to play, u normally hide ur worst defender in left

i may move up 1st base. thought it may be one of if not the easiest to play but i think good to great 1st base defense is underrated and think people take for granted how great they are at scooping balls out of the dirt or making those long stretches or diving stops.

that's about the only reason chris davis stayed up so long this year, his defense was amazing, one of the most flexible players in baseball. and though i hate teixeira he's great too

Modern_epic · Post #7 » by **Modern_epic** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 6:18 pm

Pitcher is definitely the easiest, but out of the people you care about, it is LF. Range is right and left are the same, but more balls are hit to right, and you have to throw further when trying to gun down runners at 3rd.

I'm also pretty sure 2B is harder than 3B. 3rd needs a stronger arm, but second touches the ball more, and need to be able to turn the double play.

C, SS, CF, 2B, 3B, 1B/RF, LF, P

livestrong4ever · Post #8 » by **livestrong4ever** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 8:25 pm

TyCobb wrote:And? What part of that isn't **** defense?

calling a game isn't defensive.

trwi7 · Post #9 » by **trwi7** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 9:19 pm

livestrong4ever wrote:
TyCobb wrote:And? What part of that isn't **** defense?

calling a game isn't defensive.

You're just failing epically at this. Do catchers have to field or catch a ball? If the answer is yes, they play defense.

C
SS
CF
2B
3B
RF
P
LF
1B

jumanji · Post #10 » by **jumanji** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 9:54 pm

Modern_epic wrote:Pitcher is definitely the easiest, but out of the people you care about, it is LF. Range is right and left are the same, but more balls are hit to right, and you have to throw further when trying to gun down runners at 3rd.

I'm also pretty sure 2B is harder than 3B. 3rd needs a stronger arm, but second touches the ball more, and need to be able to turn the double play.

C, SS, CF, 2B, 3B, 1B/RF, LF, P

I'd say 3rd is the toughest, pitcher is probably the most dangerous. 60' 6" being shorter than 90'.

Post #11 » by **Stanford** » Mon Aug 3, 2009 9:54 pm

livestrong4ever wrote:
TyCobb wrote:And? What part of that isn't **** defense?

calling a game isn't defensive.

Correct. It's offensive.

Post #12 » by **sunshinekids99** » Tue Aug 4, 2009 3:29 pm

I would say short stop would be number 1 for me, I'd have catcher 3rd or 4th I believe.

Dirty Water · Post #13 » by **Dirty Water** » Wed Aug 5, 2009 2:42 am

OP you are not making sense.

livestrong4ever · Post #14 » by **livestrong4ever** » Wed Aug 5, 2009 5:23 am

trwi7 wrote:
livestrong4ever wrote:
TyCobb wrote:And? What part of that isn't **** defense?

calling a game isn't defensive.

You're just failing epically at this. Do catchers have to field or catch a ball? If the answer is yes, they play defense.

C
SS
CF
2B
3B
RF
P
LF
1B

I am not saying catchers don't play defense, i am saying calling a game isn't part of the defensive process.

Post #15 » by **HCYanks** » Wed Aug 5, 2009 6:04 am

Why not? The entire objective of pitching is run prevention, so by extension anything a catcher does to help a pitcher not allow runs could be considered defensive action. No need to create unnecessary subcategories of performance.

Game calling is sort of overhyped nonsense anyway. It's a much more learnable skill than most other aspects of catching and it's not as easy to label certain catchers as good gamecallers as a lot of analysts make it out to be.

High 5 · Post #16 » by **High 5** » Wed Aug 5, 2009 6:18 am

Catcher is definitely the toughest position to play. Why would someone say LF is tougher than RF?

Modern_epic · Post #17 » by **Modern_epic** » Thu Aug 6, 2009 3:27 am

Modern_epic wrote:Pitcher is definitely the easiest, but out of the people you care about, it is LF. Range is right and left are the same, but more balls are hit to right, and you have to throw further when trying to gun down runners at 3rd.

I'm also pretty sure 2B is harder than 3B. 3rd needs a stronger arm, but second touches the ball more, and need to be able to turn the double play.

C, SS, CF, 2B, 3B, 1B/RF, LF, P

I should have added the caveat that Joe Inglett reminded me of tonight: just because you can play a tougher position, it doesn't mean you will be good at a worse one.

Post #18 » by **Da Schwab** » Thu Aug 6, 2009 9:48 pm

I'm with Ty on this one, catcher is the toughest position out there. I'd rank the positions like this:

C
3B
SS
2B (Playing up the middle is tough because you have to deal with all the tweeners)
CF
RF
1B
LF
P

Modern_epic · Post #19 » by **Modern_epic** » Thu Aug 6, 2009 10:11 pm

I don't understand the third base thing. Not the least of my problems with it is that 3B is typically where people move a good hitting SS who has lost a step.

Dirty Water · Post #20 » by **Dirty Water** » Thu Aug 6, 2009 10:30 pm

I'll agree that 2B is harder than it looks. My junior year in high school I moved from SS to 2B because we had this hotshot defensive SS who got on the team. I really struggled defensively, The throw is just weird for me. I feel a lot more comfortable across the diamond. Long story short, a few Chuck Knoblauch-esque games later I told the coach abotu how I felt and he moved me over to 3rd. A lot easier for me. Started there my final two years.