Baseball: Ranking the defensive positions by importance

Monday 5/20/24

Gave some thought over the past couple of days to how the positions in baseball would be ranked in terms of defensive importance. This is what I came up with:

Shortstop

Center field

Catcher

Second base

Right field

Third base

First base

Left field

Pitcher

I have the catcher position third, but I also considered it for the top spot, but if you're of the belief that shortstop is most important, then it follows that center field should be second.

Why is right field so much more important than left? The distance to third base. Think of how many great fielding right fielders there have been in baseball history. How many great fielding left fielders are there?

I'd say that Carl Yastrzemski was the best, but a lot of his defensive value was ballpark-related--meaning, it has to do with how well he played the wall at Fenway. If he played for another team, his defensive value wouldn't be as high. So even the best defensive left fielder has this sort of qualifier.

I think it's tougher on a team when the catcher is below average defensively than when the center fielder is.

The second base position has to be ranked highly because of the importance of double plays and the degree of difficulty involved on the pivot for a second baseman. The shortstop gets to come across the bag, seeing what's in front of him, whereas the second baseman has to go back against his body and has a blind side. The timing is also easier for a shortstop than a second baseman on the double play.

Third base is a reaction position not requiring a lot of range. A third baseman doesn't even have much of an opportunity for range, save on a slow roller on which he comes in or a chopper where he cuts in front of the shortstop. Third base and left field are the easiest positions to "hide" a not-so-good fielder.

I think first base has an importance that's often overlooked--turning what would have been throwing errors into outs. The reason, in my view, that skill/attribute is overlooked is because it's what I think of as secondary fielding. We often view fielding as what a player does in response to a batted ball, not in response to what a teammate of theirs does. The first baseman helps make three other players better fielders.

The pitcher, as the old saying goes, can help his own cause, but the position itself is of limited defensive importance. It's less about excelling--though there are still great plays to be made from time to time--and more about not screwing up.