3B to LF
Posted by Andy on January 31, 2008
I see that the Brewers are planning to move reigning AL ROY Ryan Braun from 3B (where he was pretty bad defensively) to LF next year.
It got me to wondering how often that's happened before. I recall that Pat Burrell was a 3B when the Phillies drafted him, but he was blocked by Scott Rolen. They first moved Burrell to 1B, but eventually to LF, which is where he has played most of his major-league ball. (In fact, he's played 58 ML games at 1B, all in his first year, and exclusively has played LF or DH since then.)
Anyway, I tried to come up with a search that might show a guy who played both 3B and LF a lot early in his career. This is what I came up with (although it's definitely not that great): Within the first
Cnt Player Year From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+----+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Miguel Cabrera 2007 2003 2007 20-24 720 3072 2694 449 842 183 10 138 523 322 70 592 25 5 26 87 17 11 .313 .388 .542 .930 *579/D FLA 2 Mike Edwards 2006 2003 2006 26-29 106 282 259 24 63 9 2 3 15 19 0 40 2 2 0 7 1 1 .243 .300 .328 .628 /57D96 OAK-LAD-PIT 3 Russell Branyan 2002 1998 2002 22-26 326 1062 928 134 213 38 5 61 154 114 5 380 10 0 10 9 5 4 .230 .317 .478 .795 75/D39 CLE-TOT 4 Kevin Mitchell 1989 1984 1989 22-27 548 2099 1854 279 509 101 17 100 319 216 43 352 11 2 16 31 20 19 .275 .351 .509 .860 57/9683 NYM-TOT-SFG 5 Steve Braun 1975 1971 1975 23-27 629 2339 2012 260 569 91 11 32 212 289 22 242 13 11 14 45 20 17 .283 .374 .387 .761 57/46D39 MIN 6 Bill McNulty 1972 1969 1972 22-25 9 29 27 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 .037 .103 .037 .140 /*75 OAK 7 Jim Dyck 1955 1951 1955 29-33 301 1085 949 131 236 50 5 26 114 118 1 130 7 11 0 26 4 6 .249 .336 .394 .730 57/89 SLB-CLE-BAL 8 Ralph Hodgin 1947 1939 1947 24-32 416 1463 1358 170 393 68 19 3 154 76 0 52 17 12 0 38 7 7 .289 .335 .374 .709 75/9 BSN-CHW 9 Bobby Estalella 1942 1935 1942 24-31 289 1023 852 135 234 50 14 18 130 164 0 94 4 3 0 30 8 5 .275 .394 .430 .824 7/598 WSH-SLB 10 Cozy Dolan 1914 1909 1914 19-24 267 989 865 157 209 29 12 4 73 87 0 109 9 28 0 0 85 0 .242 .317 .317 .634 5/798 CIN-NYY-TOT-STL 11 Scotty Ingerton 1911 1911 1911 25-25 136 575 521 63 130 24 4 5 61 39 0 68 2 13 0 0 6 0 .250 .304 .340 .644 /573469 BSN 12 Emil Batch 1907 1904 1907 24-27 348 1361 1253 134 315 38 22 7 98 65 0 0 3 40 0 0 37 0 .251 .290 .334 .624 *57/9864 BRO 13 Jim Delahanty 1906 1901 1906 22-27 406 1591 1428 176 385 62 20 9 161 104 0 0 30 29 0 0 54 0 .270 .332 .360 .692 *57/49618 CHC-NYG-BSN-CIN
How many of these guys actually qualify as having switched from 3B to LF? Cabrera has basically gone the other way, from LF to 3B. Edwards hasn't played enough games to be relevant. Branyan has played all around each year. Kevin Mitchell qualifies for the most part, playing most of his games at 3B until moving to LF with the Giants in 1989, although he did play a bunch of OF before that. Same story with Steve Braun. only 9 games for McNulty. Dyck played both positions most years. Alot fo the rest of the guys played in various positions from year to year. Delahanty actually switched from 3B to OF, then back to 3B, then to other positions.
So I didn't find anybody who fit all that well.
Using some other searches for just the first 3 years of a career, I also found Jack Howell and Phil Nevin, but again neither really qualifies all that well.
As it's currently set up, the PI isn't well-suited to this type of search. I think we might have to rely on actual memories of fans. So--who can remember somebody who made the switch from 3B to LF?
a
January 31st, 2008 at 9:38 am
Don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but Pedro Guerrero:
1983: 157 games at third base
1984: 76 games at third base, 58 in the outfield
1985: 44 games at third base, 81 in the outfield
1986-87: played only outfield and first base
January 31st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Chipper Jones did this.
In late 2001, the Braves made it clear that they were thinking about this move when they signed Ken Caminiti. Caminiti was placed in an odd platoon with B.J. Surhoff; Surhoff, a left-handed hitter, would play left field against righties, and Caminiti, a switch-hitter, would play against righties, but he would play third base, and Chipper Jones would move out to left field. Getting a right-handed bat was probably part of the motive behind this decision, but the Braves were probably also tiring of Chipper's shoddy defense at third base. Actually, Jones had been slated to start in left field for the Braves back in 1994, but he got injured and missed the entire season, which pushed his rookie season back to 1995.
In the offseason, the Braves made Chipper their full-time left fielder by signing Vinny Castilla to play third. Two of the groups who attempt to rate defensive contributions, Total Baseball and Baseball Prospectus, has Chipper Jones as an awful third baseman and a decent left fielder (at least in 2002), which helped to make up for his slight decline in offense. The papers praised Jones for his lack of selfishness, but, at some point early in 2002, Jones explicity stated that he didn;t want to force anyone out of the lineup, but he really wanted to move back to third. He got a pass for this somehow, possibly because he never did force Castilla out of the lineup by moving back to third.
Castilla left via free agency after 2003, but Jones stayed put in left, and the Braves decided to play Mark DeRosa at third base. Two things happened to put Chipper Jones back at the hot corner. For one, Chipper got injured chasing a ball in left field, at which point he changed from a dependable player who was in almost every game to the injury-prone player who he is today. Second, Mark DeRosa did not hit well and also had a memorable four-error game against Colorado, which made the Braves wonder if having him at third really provided much of a defensive advantage.
When Jones returned from his injury, he moved back to third, DeRosa moved to the bench, and minor leaguer Charles Thomas platooned in left field with right-handed hitter Eli Marrero. Jones suffered through probably his worst offensive season ever before he rebounded in 2005. DeRosa finished his final season as a Brave by tearing his ACL in the game after the Braves clinched the division title. Thomas had a good season, and the outfield of Thomas in left, Andruw Jones in center, and J.D. Drew in right was nicknamed the "kudzu outfield" for their ability to cover the outfield as well as kudzu covers trees. Thomas was traded to the A's in the offseason as part of the Tim Hudson deal and has never approached his 2004 numbers since.
To answer your question, yes, Chipper Jones has moved from third base to left field, although he did it much later in his career than Braun did it in his. I believe that Phil Nevin, later in his career, tried to do this, but got injured diving for a ball in the outfield in spring training. I also believe that B.J. Surhoff started out as a catcher, moved to third base, and then moved to left field. Albert Pujols, too, started out at third and ended up in left before he moved to first base. Those are all of the guys of whom I can think right now.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Andy,
I was going to say Chipper Jones and Pedro Guerrero is another good one. I believe Pete Rose also played 3rd for the Big Red Machines in 75, 76, 77, 78 and when bench moved to third played both left and 1B with the Reds, Phillies and Expoes.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:15 am
Andy,
Dick Allen? Believe Dr. Strangeglove moved from 3B to the OF.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:49 am
I looked it up - really, of the guys I listed, only Chipper Jones qualifies.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:34 am
Methodology question: Does "early in his career" mean that Pedro Guerrero qualifies and Chipper Jones doesn't?
Another research question involves WHY such a shift is made. In almost every case, I assume the switch comes because of poor defense in the infield, or because a player new to the roster can play only third base. (Steve Sax became primarily an outfielder at age 33; Al Rosen was switched from third to first -- disastrously -- in 1954 to make room for Rudy Regalado. Compared to a left-field destination, even more off-of-third shifts may go to first base, as in the case of Steve Garvey.)
I wish I knew how to find the records that would confirm the following, but I'm pretty sure that Minnie Minoso was primarily a third baseman in the Cuban and Negro Leagues. I don't know where he played at San Diego in the PCL in 1949 and 1950. In his rookie year, however, Minoso played 68 games at third. Then he went on to win three Gold Gloves at ages 31-34 as a left fielder.
Minoso is a pretty unusual case of an outstanding fielder involved in a switch. These multiposition guys we've been discussing lately are usually, I think, adequate but ordinary in the field. If they were great, somebody would put them at short or in center field and leave them there.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:40 am
@mrbaseballcard:
Yes, Dick Allen did this...
1964: 162 games at 3B
1965: 160 games at 3B
1966: 91 games at 3B; 47 at LF
1967: 121 games at 3B
1968: 139 games at LF; 10 at 3B
After being exclusively a FIRST baseman in 1969, he jumped around mostly between 3B and 1B after that (except for 60 games at LF in 1971).
Andy's right, though, that the PI doesn't help much for searches like this. But I did one anyway, looking for players who possessed at least one season in which they played a minimum of 100 games and at least 30 each at 3B and LF... Looking at the results points out a few other players who moved from 3B to LF at some point in their careers:
- Frank Thomas was an all-star third baseman in 1958 for Pittsburgh, and while splitting time between 1B-3B-LF, played MOST of the rest of his career in left (for six other teams).
- In 1965, Deron Johnson started 159 games at 3B for Cincinnati. In 1966, he played 106 in left field. He also played that season at 3B and 1B, and spent most of the rest of his career at first base.
- Tommy Harper was an all-star third baseman for Milwaukee in 1970. He spent most of his career scattered all over the outfield, but in 1973, he played almost exclusively in left field (139 of 144 games). Oddly, in 1972, he played exclusively in center field...
- Hector Lopez (Royals and Yankees, 1955-66) played mostly third base in his first three years, split some time between third and second for a year or so, and then moved to left when he joined the Yankees in 1959.
- Don Buford (White Sox and Orioles, 1963-72) started as a second baseman before shifting over to third. When his career took him to Baltimore, he also moved into left field (and made his lone all-star appearance in 1971, when he played exclusively left field for Baltimore).
...I don't know what this says about Ryan Braun. I hope he has a productive career. I don't have a lot of faith in the Brewers this season, but we'll see...!
January 31st, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Good work, Zuty. However, many of these guys were very challenged in the field. The old (1958) Frank Thomas was not an "all-star third baseman." He was a 1958 All-Star who was positioned that year at third base.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Regarding #6. David, I don't know how much verification you were looking for, but according to his BR Bullpen page, Minoso was the starting 3rd baseman in the '47 and '48 Negro League All star games.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
This is about 150 feet off topic, but the Mets tried to make a center fielder out of Howard Johnson in 1992. He played 98 games in the outfield that year (and was never the same).