Oakland Park Baseball

OK. I can't find a home on the field. In High School, i was a very good outfielder. At Defremery Park, I started at 2B, just like i did in middle school. Then I moved to 1B. Now I am playing most SS.

The reason for this post, is to help me figure out what my "natural" position should be. When polling, take into account my physical skills (such as speed, height, arm accuracy and strength, reaction, and whatever else) and knowledge (or lack of them) of the game. Look at those things on top of my performance at a position (for example, my first game ever at SS may not be the best example of what I can do in the middle infield)

My Thoughts:

I have liked playing at 1B for a few reasons. I enjoy being in many plays, making the stretch for the throws, not wearing out my arm, and chatting with the runners at first :p

My only concern with playing first base is that I am fast… and first base is not a position where speed is really that necessary. Plus, like Scott said, 1Bs should help power an offense: Tony’s a great example of this.

2B: People say i'm too tall.

SS: Is the arm good enough?

OF: Do we already have too many OFs?

So, above you can see the options: Stay at 1B, 2B, SS, OF, or middle infield (2B/SS: Either works)

Give me your reasons why, and find Peter a home!


PS: Yes, I realize that this is a very self-indulgent post!

too tall???? I don't think too tall is a problem.

I think first and second are your best positions.

And yeah, we already have 7 or 8 people who are primarily outfielders, so I wouldn't even think about moving out there.

Care to elaborate Ken?

retep wrote:Care to elaborate Ken?

not really

It just seems that you make a pretty good infielder... You might be ok at short too, but I haven't seen enough of your arm to make a surefire judgement there.

I dunno... I'm just basing all this on my first instinct.

Thinking is for the dumb!

Peter I would say either first or shortstop, you can make the play i.e first base, but you can move around, and hopefully, stop the hits by 2nd base.

well if you play for scott team then you are more fit for first but when you need to run your own team you should run the show at shortstop as you did last week. I think that you really kick ass at first....that is your natural position especially with your height and base coverage. You are such like a john olerud type stiff but who can really cover the first base. just consider it...

I just read that Adam Dunn Stole 19 bases a few years ago. Not bad for 1B! Can anyone else think of some speedy 1B's from the past or present? I can't. Part of the reson I feel odd at 1B.

Currently, me at SS has 3 votes, while me at 2B and me at 1B have one vote each.

How close do people say SS and 2B are to eachother? If you can do one, can you do the other? (I really wanna hear what scott has to say on that)

First, Derrek Lee is probably the fastest 1B in MLB.

To me the difference between SS & 2B has nothing to do with the actual plays you'll make.... the positions are symetric to one another, and thus see simular situations in terms of ground balls to field. The differences come from a) the frequency of plays.... SS sees more plays due to the higher percentage of right-handed batters; and b) the leadership role the SS must play on each and every play. The SS is obliged to re-emphasize play options prior to each batter, whearas the 2B can relay these directions to RF as necessary, but otherwise has limited leadership roles. It's a matter of how much of a leadership role you want to play, and how frequently you want to see plays. Note: the frequency will not just be in terms of ground balls fielded, but also in terms of how often you'll have to go out and be the relay/cutoff thrower.

I put you at 1B because you have proven yourself with great consistency there, and you are tall, which makes throws for the infielders much easier. What I can't recall, however, is the play on throws that are offline toward the homeplate side of 1st, where the good 1B catches the offline throw, and makes the swipe tag to his left to get the runner. Have you made that play? I remember making it in one of my few games at 1B, and I've definitely seen Anthony make it.

Pete, just leave options open, so whoever you think is lacking what you bring to the table, you can take over that position. My opion is being versital is a good thing.

Baseball=Life wrote: What I can't recall, however, is the play on throws that are offline toward the homeplate side of 1st, where the good 1B catches the offline throw, and makes the swipe tag to his left to get the runner. Have you made that play? I remember making it in one of my few games at 1B, and I've definitely seen Anthony make it.

Yeah, I made it once. And i've come damn close two other times, as well. I feel I cna make that play.

Well, since Peter admitted this was a "self-indulgent" post, allow me to reply in an admittedly self-serving manner. I also haven't found a permament home but I've been gravitating towards and seem to prefer 2B myself. But hey, I"ll trade you 2B for SS?! So Peter, how about 1B? There seems to be quite a few people vying for SS at this point, right?

But on a related note, and perhaps this deserves it's own thread, unless we are going to go the permanent team, full-on competition route, I would vote to have everyone rotate positions on a regular basis. I'd certainly like to try various positions and I'm sure others would too. I think this is more about fun and experimentation more than strickly competition, right? But as long as I get to play *some* position, I'm happy!

I agree that rotating positions is key to keeping people involved. Even though there are people who you want at certain positions (i.e. Kenyatte at 3rd) it's still fun to try those out.

I still suggest shortstop, just for the fact that yesterday, march 6, I was playing second and I would like to better improve myself in that position.

To bring back a dead topic, seems like I've found a home in the outfield, while playign some backup middle infield.