Matt Blood on versatility

[Frobby]

“At instructional league, we had Gunnar Henderson playing all over the field,” said Blood. “We had Vavra playing all over. Joey Ortiz played a lot of positions on the infield. Hernaiz got some time on the infield and the outfield. That will be a general theme: to get guys exposure to positions they could legitimately play at the major league level.”

Blood said these players were not just taking reps and/or going through the motions in a new spot. They were getting in quality work and, in some cases, thriving.

“Absolutely. Gunnar Henderson is such a great athlete and he’s got incredible aptitude. I believe he could play any position on the field except for catcher or pitcher. Wherever we need to put him. He could play seven positions,” he said.

And after all of that, there are scouts, coaches and others within the game that feel strongly that Henderson may stay at shortstop. At 19, he could outgrow the position, but there is the also the chance a few years from now that he’s still right there.

“Yeah, that’s one of the seven (positions). If that is where the most value is for the organization when he makes it to the big leagues, then, yeah,” Blood said. “But you never know. You might have someone else who is a great shortstop and we need someone to play center field. Having that flexibility and versatility is a major plus.”

https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2020/12/on-the-os-farm-versatility-with-be-a-real-key.html

 

[LookinUp]

My over reaction is to this quote:

Quote

“Yeah, that’s one of the seven (positions). If that is where the most value is for the organization when he makes it to the big leagues, then, yeah,” Blood said.

I love that he refers to when Gunnar gets to the big leagues, not if.

[Just Regular]

22 hours ago, Frobby said:

You might have someone else who is a great shortstop and we need someone to play center field.

Obviously that one was my over-reaction favorite.   I'm sure it's just not to shade the Westburg, Servideo, Ortiz, Hernaiz type guys.

Versatility in general, I think I think shifts mostly dig into 3B/2B as pure positions, and that SS remains mostly special.   If last postseason was a leading indicator, more 4 OF is coming, and that does mean you probably want a few guys practicing for that role, probably whoever between your 2B and 3B is less of an established star.

[ThomasTomasz]

7 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

Obviously that one was my over-reaction favorite.   I'm sure it's just not to shade the Westburg, Servideo, Ortiz, Hernaiz type guys.

Versatility in general, I think I think shifts mostly dig into 3B/2B as pure positions, and that SS remains mostly special.   If last postseason was a leading indicator, more 4 OF is coming, and that does mean you probably want a few guys practicing for that role, probably whoever between your 2B and 3B is less of an established star.

Look at the Dodgers and how versatile some of their guys are.  Chris Taylor played at 2B, SS, LF and CF last year.  Edwin Rios plays 1B and 3B.  Kike Hernandez played everywhere but C and 3B.  Bellinger even plays 1B and CF.  

The more teams are digging into analytics and seeing data on certain splits, the more versatile they want their players to be so they can create the best lineup to go after certain pitchers.