Can a lefty OF prospect be Changed to C?

[Skevich]

I have an 23 year old corner Ofer with poor range by a 75 (out of 80) OF arm. I want to change him to catcher but he is a lefty. Is there any reason I shouldn't try to make the transition with him?

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by Skevich

I have an 23 year old corner Ofer with poor range by a 75 (out of 80) OF arm. I want to change him to catcher but he is a lefty. Is there any reason I shouldn't try to make the transition with him?

You'll find the answer in his potential C ratings.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Skevich

I have an 23 year old corner Ofer with poor range by a 75 (out of 80) OF arm. I want to change him to catcher but he is a lefty. Is there any reason I shouldn't try to make the transition with him?

Left handed fielders will never get ratings at catcher or any infield position other than first base.

[Bobfather]

Originally Posted by Skevich

I have an 23 year old corner Ofer with poor range by a 75 (out of 80) OF arm. I want to change him to catcher but he is a lefty. Is there any reason I shouldn't try to make the transition with him?

Put him in the minors, force-start him at catcher for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If he gets rated continue if not end the experiment. What do you have to lose?

[LansdowneSt]

The list of left-handed catchers in NL/AL history is short. Lefty Dale Long played catcher consistently but not many others.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by LansdowneSt

The list of left-handed catchers in NL/AL history is short. Lefty Dale Long played catcher consistently but not many others.

Dale Long played a grand total of 1.2 innings in the major leagues at catcher over 2 games in one season (and apparently had to wear a first baseman's mitt). The last lefthander to go behind the plate at all was Benny Distefano in 1989. Before him, Mike Squires played 2 innings in a game in 1980, and I think that's every lefthander who's played catcher since World War II.

You can certainly play a guy with a good arm out of position at catcher and... just hope and pray. In reality, you'd never see a left-hander with an arm anywhere near strong enough. That's because although there's nothing per se keeping a lefthander from crouching behind the plate, the fact is that although us lefties make up about 5-10% of the world population, roughly 1/3rd of all hitters and, more importantly, pitchers are left-handed. That in turn means that lefties who have even mediocre arms get weeded out and put on the mound, and weeded out extremely early at that, as there are very, very few lefty catchers or third basemen or shortstops even at the high school level.

Think about that: the cohort of available players that make up one third of all pitchers is at most 10% of the population. There are lots and lots of right-handers who don't quite have a good enough arm to be a right-handed pitcher and so they play catcher or shortstop or 3rd base instead. All of those guys, like literally *all* of them, on the left-handed side become pitchers.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Bobfather

Put him in the minors, force-start him at catcher for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If he gets rated continue if not end the experiment. What do you have to lose?

You can do that and see what the guy's fielding ratings look like - maybe they'll be passable, who knows (probably not)? - but you can go into the editor with any player who throws lefty and goose up their experience rating to 200 and they will still be unrated at the position.

[LansdowneSt]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Dale Long played a grand total of 1.2 innings in the major leagues at catcher over 2 games in one season (and apparently had to wear a first baseman's mitt).

Man, that's far less than I thought. I just remember it being a trivia answer one night at the bar