Can Players "Earn" a New Position?

[torpidbeaver]

Am I wasting my time if I assign a minor league player to play an unfamiliar position for the whole season? Will he learn that as a second position (or even better, become "reassigned" to that position)?

I think I read that players play at 80% of their defensive ability playing a secondary position, and 60% at an unknown position. Is that true?

Short of editing a player, can I slowly mold my players to my Franchise needs?

[underdog13]

nope, have to edit them

[torpidbeaver]

So will the upcoming years of my franchise be bereft of utility players? Will the Willie Bloomquists and Mark DeRosas of the world go the way of the dodo?

Or do some drafted players naturally have lots of 2nd positions?

[canes21]

I've drafted players that had 3 secondary positions I am pretty sure. Don't have the game on, but I am pretty sure I did. One odd thing I did have and no for sure because I just looked at it a bit ago today was that I drafted a RP last night and when I looked at his player card today before offering him a contract, he had 2B and 3B as secondary positions. I thought that was funny. Guy has 5 contact against right handed pitchers, 0 against lefties. I guess if I ever need him to field in a rare situation, I'll have the luxury. I know it isn't unheard of to have RP's in real life that can play the field, but I still was surprised this game even had that too.

[baseballphanatic]

I have had a few players develop a position they never had before so yes it can happen.

[Knight165]

Quote: Originally Posted by baseballphanatic

I have had a few players develop a position they never had before so yes it can happen.

You must not have noticed that they had those secondaries.
For some players...they are not listed in the editor and you can only see them when hitting triangle on the manage roster(and a few other) screen.

M.K.
Knight165

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by torpidbeaver

Short of editing a player, can I slowly mold my players to my Franchise needs?

Sadly, no. Unlike OOTP, you can't give a player experience at a position and then see if he develops the skills you want for him to stick.

Granted, I don't know how steep the "off position" penalties are. If I take an average 60-ish reaction LF and put him a SS, just how badly would he perform?

You can take an "OOTP-ish" approach in that you can use the base fielding skills (reaction, fielding, arm, accuracy) and edit with that in mind. So if you have a slick fielding SS, putting him at basically any other infield position isn't going to be a problem, unless his arm is fringe for SS - then 3B probably wouldn't be viable - 2B would be a better secondary (keep him on the middle infield).

If you have a good reaction/speed LF, editing his second to "OF" makes sense, but if he doesn't have the speed maybe only RF. I can't remember if there's a 1B/RF (I know there's 1B/OF).

Or if he has a good arm and good reaction - 3B might make sense.

Things like that. You might lower his reaction/fielding a little as well if you want to emulate the lack of experience. Maybe 10-15% for "similar" positions (LF -> RF, SS -> 2B), and maybe 25% (or more?) for more daring changes (SS -> CF, 2B -> 3B, etc).

I noticed guys like Zobrist don't have their stuff show in the editor for whatever reason. Makes me wonder how those positions got there...and why doesn't the editor allow us to set something accordingly..............

[gamer052001]

So has it been confirmed that a guy playing at his secondary position will only have 80% of his defensive attributes?