Building a team, which would you prefer

A great hitter- average fielder
A great fielder- average hitter

 

A great pitcher..... oh, did i just hijack your thread?

 

If I had to go with just one and I could pick my own, I would go with a great pitcher to begin building.

If I had to pick between a great hitter and average fielder or a average hitter and great fielder, I'd pick the great hitter and average fielder every time because the player will likely bat several times a game but many times in a game a player won't get a ball hit to him so his fielding never comes into play. I include short stops and catchers in this also as long as the catcher is an ok receiver and blocker and the short stop has some mobility.

 

Let's leave the pitcher's out of this

But don't you think that you could manufacture runs with average hitting and should be able to keep games close with great fielding. And remember, great hitting is going to fail over half the time

 

I would take a great fielder/average hitter. I can always teach a kid how to hit with a higher batting average. But a great fielder is hard to find. DEFENSE WINS GAMES

 

put me down for the average hitter/great fielder.

anyone can develop into a great bunter, if he's a great fielder that means he's probably pretty quick. strong up the middle baby

 

Tim McCarver is Right

Other than pitching........

The Catcher is the most important position on the field. Defense cannot be compromised here.

Then it's the SS. Defense 1st here too.

Then it's the CF (not the 2b). Speed and Defense here too.

Then (and only then) will we move the cage up to the plate and start hitting!

You know the old saying. "Defense is consistent and hitting isn't".

 

Defense first

You can score runs alot of ways. Sometimes you mash and sometimes you dont. Average hitting HS teams that are great defensive teams are very hard to beat. The bunt game, running game, just putting the ball into play consistently will give you a ton of opportunities to score runs. If you can play great defense you will always be in the game regardless of how talented your opponent is.

 

I believe I would go with the great hitting/average fielding over average hitting/great fielding. MLB seems to side this way as they usually take their high batting average guys and find a place to play them and put up with a couple of extra miscues, if they get the ball hit to them, sometime along the way vs some fielding whiz that struggles against decent pitching. They know the weaker hitters have to bat every game but the weaker fielders may not have to field but every once and a while. They even seem to do this with catchers. Mike Piazza isn't that good of a defensive catcher but he can hit and that is what keeps him in the lineup. I, personally, also believe it is a lot easier to develop fielding skills than it is hitting skills.

 

Gotta Hit It!

Defense keeps you in ball games, but offense wins them!