Secondary Positions

I think there are a couple flaws with the secondary position system that aren't exactly pressing, but could be addressed in next years game. The biggest issue is that when playing a secondary position the fielder only suffers a minor hit to their attributes; the problem with this mostly deals with catching. Carlos Santana, for example, can catch just as well as Yadier Molina because of his secondary, even though he was moved from the position over 5 years ago. Kyle Schwarber is similar.

It extends beyond catcher though. Rhys Hoskins, the worst left fielder in the league by a mile, can play bronze defense there because he is an average defender at first. Ryne Sandberg, a gold glover at 2B but an average defender at 3B irl, is just as good as Arenado at the hot corner.

Stemming from the first problem, secondary positions are handed out too widely. Schwarber and Santana would not be out behind the dish in any situation today except for an absolute emergency. Similarly, Mookie Betts would never play 2B except for an emergency, yet you will see him played at 2B playing top tier defense the majority of the time (he's made 2 appearances there in his career).

In any case, I think there is a rather easy solution for this. Instead of giving players secondary positions a slider system could be implemented to rate their ability to play each position. To use Santana as an example (who has 1B as a primary and C/3B as secondary's), he would have 100% at 1B, meaning he would suffer no penalty playing there. But his rating at C could be 50% (or insert any number variable here), a recognition of the fact that he wouldn't play defense at the same level as first base; the same would go for 3B. As for the rest of the positions, he would have something like 10%, showing that he could barely play them. I think this would give more flexibility to secondary positions while also making it more realistic, as you can detail how a player plays at specific positions without making them godly fielders.

TL;DR: A slider system should be implemented instead of the current secondary position system, as it would allow for a more realistic depiction of secondary positions.

It took them a month to stop fly balls from bouncing off the outfielders foreheads, so don’t hold your breath expecting a realistic depiction of secondary positions.

@sersimpleton said in Secondary Positions:

It took them a month to stop fly balls from bouncing off the outfielders foreheads, so don’t hold your breath expecting a realistic depiction of secondary positions.

Yeah, but I kinda also attribute that to quarantine right now. Once they get the basic system down, sliders would be easy to implement. I guess it’s that system that would be really tough to create.

I think each player should have a secondary that they don’t lose any fielding Rating. This is because they are mlb players Nolan arenado shouldn’t be worse at fielding cause he moved to first. And he actually plays first in games. But players like Mookie never play second so he’s fielding ability would go down in real life. But outfielders shouldn’t be worse when moving then unless they are players like jd

@benh_27 said in Secondary Positions:

I think each player should have a secondary that they don’t lose any fielding Rating. This is because they are mlb players Nolan arenado shouldn’t be worse at fielding cause he moved to first. And he actually plays first in games. But players like Mookie never play second so he’s fielding ability would go down in real life. But outfielders shouldn’t be worse when moving then unless they are players like jd

Exactly. So with a slider system, Arenado would have 100% rating at 1B, and outfielders generally wouldn’t lose any rating either in the outfield. But mookie would have something like 30% to represent that yeah, in an emergency he could play there, but you really aren’t going to use him there.

@Original_Quad said in Secondary Positions:

@benh_27 said in Secondary Positions:

I think each player should have a secondary that they don’t lose any fielding Rating. This is because they are mlb players Nolan arenado shouldn’t be worse at fielding cause he moved to first. And he actually plays first in games. But players like Mookie never play second so he’s fielding ability would go down in real life. But outfielders shouldn’t be worse when moving then unless they are players like jd

Exactly. So with a slider system, Arenado would have 100% rating at 1B, and outfielders generally wouldn’t lose any rating either in the outfield. But mookie would have something like 30% to represent that yeah, in an emergency he could play there, but you really aren’t going to use him there.

I like this idea, but I’m sure its implementation by sds would result in Joey gallo playing shortstop for every team in RS

@benh_27 said in Secondary Positions:

I think each player should have a secondary that they don’t lose any fielding Rating. This is because they are mlb players Nolan arenado shouldn’t be worse at fielding cause he moved to first. And he actually plays first in games. But players like Mookie never play second so he’s fielding ability would go down in real life. But outfielders shouldn’t be worse when moving then unless they are players like jd

When has Nolan ever played 1B?

I agree that it gets frustrating when I have all gold and diamond fielders in and other guys use Bronze and it has no effect on the game. I love having Santana but he can’t throw anyone out

Joc has 1b as a secondary and his only game at the position was a complete blooper reel, but all he takes is the secondary penalty. As for outfielders, their arm stats shouldn’t take hits but the reaction and fielding would do to not being use to the angles. Based on their current ideology, neither Carlos or Mookie should have 2nd or C as secondary on their live series. Only their sig or short period cards should have those positions, since those cards are based on career performance at that time. Same with Swarb, dude will never play catcher again. Live series should have a minimum number of games at the position to qualify, otherwise the penalty should be applied on a sliding scale. The more innings logged at a position the lower the penalty. In this scenario, Joc would be out of position as would the others mentioned.

I would also argue, sig cards should not have a secondary penalty at all, since those cards and ratings are based on the entirety of their career. Prime and others short time period cards should absolutely have a secondary penalty.