Schmuck Good Game write up

[weams]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-highlights-pedro-alvarez-stands-out-again-in-66-tie-with-blue-jays-20160315-story.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Newly signed slugger Pedro Alvarez doesn't look at all like he showed up three weeks into Orioles spring training.

He started at first base Tuesday and drove in the first two runs in the Orioles? 6-6 tie with the Toronto Blue Jays at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

Lest anyone forget, Alvarez hit a long double with his first contact of the exhibition season and drove home former college teammate Ryan Flaherty in Sunday?s game against the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers. He did exactly the same thing Tuesday, following up a first-inning walk by Flaherty and a single by Jonathan Schoop with a line drive off the left-field fence that brought Flaherty home for the first run of the game.

Alvarez followed that up with a fly ball in the third inning where Blue Jays right fielder Darrell Ceciliani had not made a terrific diving catch.

[LA2]

Anyone know how Walker looked in LF?

[DrungoHazewood]

Don't know, but he did throw a guy out at 3B, and caught a liner. Tillman made sure like 79 balls got hit to him.

If the other team were playing a career 1B in LF in an exhibition there wouldn't even be a hold sign for the third base coach to use.

[25 Nuggets]

If the other team were playing a career 1B in LF in an exhibition there wouldn't even be a hold sign for the third base coach to use.

Hey Drungo, any historical examples of career 1B making a transition to LF?

[tntoriole]

Hey Drungo, any historical examples of career 1B making a transition to LF?

My favorite old Oriole Curt Blefary comes to mind..he played 1b and some outfield two years in minors but then played LF primarily in 1965 and 1966 (though he played 11 games at first in 1966), then in 1967 was used in 52 games at first and 86 games in left.

Not first base, but Chipper Jones went from full time 3b from 95-2001 to full time left field in 2002-2003.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Larry18]

Harmon Killebrew went from third to first to left for several years. Then back to third then over to first. Defense wasn't his strong suit.

[weams]

My favorite old Oriole Curt Blefary comes to mind..he played 1b and some outfield two years in minors but then played LF primarily in 1965 and 1966 (though he played 11 games at first in 1966), then in 1967 was used in 52 games at first and 86 games in left.

Not first base, but Chipper Jones went from full time 3b from 95-2001 to full time left field in 2002-2003.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

He caught a no hitter too.

[tntoriole]

He caught a no hitter too.

Absolutely. Tommy Phoebus in 1967. Funny story about that game. It was Safety Patrol Day. I was in the safety patrol as was my next door neighbor Phil. But my Little League opened on that same day. Phil, who could not stand baseball, went with the Safety Patrol anyway and thus the only MLB game he ever attended in his whole life was a no-hitter. I have gone to over 1000 big league games and have yet to see one.

http://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-27-1968-tom-phoebus-throws-orioles-3rd-no-hitter

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[scOtt]

I'll ask here rather than start a new thread. What's up with Roch today? I'm on my phone at work but I'm seeing his last entry as 10:24 this morning. On Matusz an Wieters. No lineup or game entry.

[DrungoHazewood]

Hey Drungo, any historical examples of career 1B making a transition to LF?

There are many, many players who kind of shifted back and forth from OF to 1B most of their careers. Basically acceptable-to-good OFers who could also play first and would based on the team around them. Everyone from Stan Musial to Darin Erstad to 1,000 utility guys. But not too many (none come to mind) who were almost exclusively first basemen as pros, even in the minors, who then shifted to another position successfully. Just being a regular first baseman carries the assumption that you weren't good enough to play anywhere else. There are some exceptions, but few.

I always go back to the Bill James rule of thumb: rightward shifts along the defensive spectrum almost never work.