Playing a 5

Can you get away with playing a 5 at third base?

Third Base X will come up about every other game on average. Compared to a 2 at third base, your iron gloveman will give up an extra hit 30 percent of the time.

81 X chances * 30% = 24.3

So, you will give up an extra 24 hits in the course of the season. So, if everything else is equal (power, speed, walks), he would need to hit over 40 points higher (basing this on 600 AB) than his 2-rated counterpart to make them equal. Also, this isn't even considering several double plays that would be lost by playing a 5.

When comparing two players, "everything else" is never equal; so, the answer is not easy. However, a 5 at third is a serious red flag that must be considered.

A 5 3B gives up 10% more singles off the X chart than a 4--a 4 gives up 10% more than a 3 and so forth.

So it depends on who you are comparing him against and how many errors he makes on top of the hits allowed.

The best way to compare is here. This is basically on-base + slugging allowed in card chances, (216 chances per AB) treating hits and errors the same.

https://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/bt ... atfldg.htm

Can someone get away with:

(1) Drinking a case of beer...just because it's there?
(2) Doing their Joey Chestnut imitation and eating 50 hot dogs in one sitting?
(3) Cheating on the wife with the secretary...because, well, she's hot?
(4) Taking spending money from the till because they, well, deserve it?

Maybe...but is it worth the risk?

I have played low error 4s at third. And maybe a low error 5 is doable as well. You just have to balance it out with good defense elsewhere. But you would need a very good reason to bother.