Davis in Right; Pearce at 1B?

From an ESPN article by Jason Stark:

At one point on Friday, while he was discussing the maneuverability of his roster, Showalter casually mentioned that Davis "might be as good a rightfielder as we have here." A little later, he worked in the assessment that Pearce "has made himself into a quality first baseman."

"You know, there's a lot of debate," the manager said, "about what's our best defense? Is it Pearce in the outfield and Chris at first? Or is it the other way around? I don?t know. But we?ll come up with that as we get into it."

Well, if Showalter decides it actually is the other way around, Davis says he's willing to play anywhere.

"I take a lot of pride in being a complete baseball player," he said. "I always give Buck a hard time about, 'When are you going to let me go back out there in right?' But for me, anything I can do to help this team be successful, that's what I?m going to do, whether it's playing right field, whether it's DH-ing or playing first base."

Buck adds:

Showalter on the people who doubt that Pearce's 21-homer breakout season was for real: "I'll be honest with you. I'd be shocked if it wasn't."

http://espn.go.com/blog/spring-training/post/_/id/2382/showalter-brings-the-noise-to-orioles-practice

Peter Schmuck reports:

Orioles manager Buck Showalter has said multiple times this spring that he plans to play Chris Davis in right field at times during the regular season, and said on Friday that Davis “loves” to play in the outfield.........but my (Davis) first love is first base.”

http://touch.baltimoresun.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82939069/

Kind of makes me wonder if Buck is not impressed with Snider in right at first glance?

However it might work out. Is how I GUESS Buck views it...

I doubt Buck has made any firm conclusions about Snyder's defense in RF compared to the others. He has a lot of options and he's going to exploit all of them.

I must be in the minority:

I do NOT want Davis or Pearce in the outfield

I wonder if this is something that is being done so if later in the season, Walker is killing the ball and needs to come up. He can only play 1B; Davis would be able to play RF in that case.

I must be in the minority:

I do NOT want Davis or Pearce in the outfield

Why would you want Snider in the OF over Pearce? Are you that worried about his wrist?

It is interesting how over the years there seems to have been a gradual shift away from having primarily left-handers playing first base. Just off the top of my head, and just with the Orioles, we have had Pearce and Davis now, Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, Kevin Millar, Aubrey Huff, Jeff Conine, Eddie Murray....last left-hander would have been Raffy and Will Clark and Boog back in the day were other prominent lefties at first.

It is interesting how over the years there seems to have been a gradual shift away from having primarily left-handers playing first base. Just off the top of my head, and just with the Orioles, we have had Pearce and Davis now, Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, Kevin Millar, Aubrey Huff, Jeff Conine, Eddie Murray....last left-hander would have been Raffy and Will Clark and Boog back in the day were other prominent lefties at first.

Boog was a right-handed thrower.

Boog was a right-handed thrower.

You are absolutely right. My god, dementia has set in. lol. And it does look like he has decided to make a comeback this year (guess the BBQ may not be working out quite as much.)

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/boog-powell-reports-to-rays-camp-only-one-still-missing/2219364

It is interesting how over the years there seems to have been a gradual shift away from having primarily left-handers playing first base. Just off the top of my head, and just with the Orioles, we have had Pearce and Davis now, Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, Kevin Millar, Aubrey Huff, Jeff Conine, Eddie Murray....last left-hander would have been Raffy and Will Clark and Boog back in the day were other prominent lefties at first.

Palmeiro..... Z

It is interesting how over the years there seems to have been a gradual shift away from having primarily left-handers playing first base. Just off the top of my head, and just with the Orioles, we have had Pearce and Davis now, Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, Kevin Millar, Aubrey Huff, Jeff Conine, Eddie Murray....last left-hander would have been Raffy and Will Clark and Boog back in the day were other prominent lefties at first.

Traditionally, lefties played first base more that righties not as much because they were better first basemen, but rather because they were far more limited as to where on the diamond they could play. Lefties are at a distinct disadvantage at C, 2B, SS, and 3B. If a left-handed position player didn't have the requisite speed to play the outfield, first base was pretty much his position by default. This is still pretty much the case, although the DH position has opened up another spot that a lefty can fill.

LH 1B do have a small advantage in holding runners, as their right glove hand is in a natural position to tag on a pickoff. It pales in comparison to the huge difficulty in fielding the other infield positions, though. (Being a lefty myself and having once turned the 270 degree pivot at 2B to complete a double play in slow pitch softball, I know a thing or two about it.)

I think the dearth of recent Oriole lefties at first is simply a "warm body" problem, not a philosophical shift.

Now, lefties do have advantages, as well. There is an advantage to batting left handed, since there are more right-handed pitchers. Additionally, a left handed pitcher doesn't have to be six-foot-five with a 98 MPH fast ball to have a chance to make it to the majors.

Buck has also said several times that Delmon Young played solid defense last year...

Davis is not a good option for right field. He can throw yes, but he's still big and slow. Pearce and Snider are both better options.

Buck has also said several times that Delmon Young played solid defense last year...

Davis is not a good option for right field. He can throw yes, but he's still big and slow. Pearce and Snider are both better options.

Davis would win a foot race against both Young and last year's right fielder. I'd be for Davis in RF to make room for a very good everyday 1B. But with the way this team is constructed, it makes more sense for him to play 1B, IMO.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk