Crack of the Bat

By David Rawnsley

 

The opinions below are David Rawnsley's alone. They do not necessarily reflect Perfect Game's opinion.

 

Challenging An Old Baseball Standard

 

Line up the three outfielders.  Put the fastest one in center field.  Put the best arm in right field.  Put the other guy, unless he can play first base better than the guy you have there and hit just as well, in left field.

 

That's the way it is most of the time, from high school baseball to the Atlanta Braves.  It's one of those unwritten rules of baseball that just gets passed along as the best way to do things. 

 

Sort of like not throwing a strike on a 0-2 count even if the hitter can't hit your basic fastball or not swinging at a 3-0 pitch when it's right down the middle.  But those are other subjects.

 

You can see where this is going.  I think the baseball standards, the accepted way of doing things for aligning outfielders, is all out of whack.

 

I have no qualm at all with putting your best outfielder in centerfield.  Fastest doesn't always equate to best range, as we should know, and what you really want is the outfielder with the best range so that he can cover the gaps on both sides and the deepest part of the ball park behind him.  In addition, there are more balls hit to centerfield and you want your best fielder where the most balls are going.

 

(Note:  Years ago I found some figures from Stats, Inc on the distribution of hit balls go in Major League games.  I don't have them now but remember the generalities.   You'll have to trust me here.)

 

Where I have a problem is with the idea of putting the outfielder with the best arm strength in right field.  Between left and right field, the outfielder with the strongest arm should play in left field, all else being relatively equal.

 

Why?  Because there are significantly more balls hit to the left fielder than the right fielder that they have to make a play on, by a ratio of about 60:40.  This is basically due to the difference in the number of right handed hitters to left handed hitters.  I have no way of measuring this but I'm going to guess that the ratio of RHH:LHH is even greater at the younger levels. 

 

How the corner outfielders make those throws on those balls and the importance of the throws determines who should play where.

 

Let's take a look at the basic throws that outfielders have to make, keeping in mind that with one exception they essentially mirror each other except in terms of frequency (i.e. the 60:40 rule).  On each play we'll look at where the stronger arm would benefit a team more.

 

1)  RF/LF to 2B on a single to the outfield:  Same play, with more balls to the LF'er.  ADVANTAGE:  Strong LF arm.

 

2)  RF/LF to 2B on a double, most often down a line:  Same play, with more balls to the LF'er:  ADVANTAGE:  Strong LF arm.

 

3)  RF/LF to 3B on a single (man on 1^st) or fly ball (man on 2^nd):  ADVANTAGE:  RF because of the longer throw.

 

4)  RF/LF to home plate on a single (man on 2^nd) or fly ball (man on 3^rd):  Same play, with more balls to the LF'er:  ADVANTAGE:  Strong LF arm

 

 

In three of the standard four outfield throwing situations, the best place to have your strongest outfield arm of the two corner positions is left field, not right field.  The only play where having the stronger arm is beneficial is on the play to third base, whether it is a tag or first to third situation.  Then the obvious advantage goes with the outfielder who can make the longer throw.

 

By far the most important play, though, isn't the third base play that seems to determine the outfield alignment, it's the play at home plate.  That's simply because that means a run!  You make a good throw, you cut off a run.  A bad throw equals a run scored.  Just as importantly, the perception of a strong arm will often keep the third base coach from risking the base runner at home.

 

I think every coach would agree that he would rather have his best arm making the play on a play at the plate over his best arm making the throw to third or second base.  We all know the value of a run!

 

That most important play for outfield arm strength happens more frequently, by approximately a 60:40 ratio, on balls hit to left field.  So on the most important throw an outfielder can make, the one to home to either prevent a run or intimidate a coach from sending a runner, the most important corner outfield position to have your strongest arm is in left field. 

 

And that should take precedence over the other basic corner outfield considerations for arm strength.

 

Corollary #1:  If your corner outfielders have approximately the same amount of arm strength, put the one with the most range in left field, as more balls will be hit to that field over the course of many games.

 

Corolllary #2:  If your corner outfielders have comparable arms and one has superior range, and neither is more or less comfortable at either corner spot, rotate them to where the most balls are likely to be hit according to the other team's line up and your pitcher, i.e. left handed hitting line up, best range goes in right field.

 

 

This problem with the way that unwritten rules of baseball work came to me when I was in Houston in the early 1990's.  The Astros had two primary left fielders for a couple of years, Luis Gonzales and James Mouton, and two primary right fielders, Glenn Wilson and Derek Bell.

 

Wilson didn't have much range but he had a superior arm and was very accurate, too.  You just didn't run on him if there was a question of it being a close play.  Bell's raw arm strength was in Wilson's league, maybe a half grade less, and he didn't have a real grasp on where his throws were always going, but runners did hesitate to take the extra base.

 

Mouton was a 5-6 speed player who was signed as a second baseman.  He didn't have the arm strength to play second as a big leaguer, which tells you what his arm strength from left field was like.  He did throw accurately, though, so he made some plays, and his range was good.  Gonzales had excellent outfield range.  He'd had major arm surgery as a minor leaguer, though, which moved him from third base to the left field.  He just couldn't throw.  It was painful to watch.  If we'd used radar guns to measure arm strength, he'd have been in the low 70's at best.  And he wasn't very accurate either, since it took all his effort to throw 72.

 

So for years, and especially with Gonzales and Bell, I'd watch runners score on every hit ball to left field.  Back up catchers scoring from second base on ground ball singles by pitchers.  Pop ups where Gonzales would wave off the shortstop to make the catch.  All the time while Derek Bell was off dreaming in right field (with Bell, who knew what he was dreaming about) and making one or two plays a week.  It was almost a joke, but nothing was ever going to be done about it. 

 

Mike Hampton and Butch Henry, two Astros sinkerball/slider left handed starters, must have had nightmares about all the hits to left field they'd allow to the all right handed hitting lineups they'd face.

 

But if they brought up switching Gonzales and Bell, they'd have probably guessed the reaction.

 

"How can you put Gonzales in right field!  Don't you know he can't throw a lick!"

This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.