My favorite super utility player was Jose Oquendo. He played almost his whole career with St. Louis (2 years with the Mets before going to St. Louis). His career WAR was only 13.6, but in 1989 he had a 5.4 WAR while leading the league in games played. The year before, with a 2.4 WAR, he managed to play all 9 positions.
I play tennis with my left hand and pick guitar with my right hand. The right hand seems to have high accuracy. My right shoulder feels lighter and that's it. I think I can hold the glove with my left hand and throw it with my right hand. If I practice at bat a little, I think I can play like a right-handed hitter. It almost seems like a push rather than a pull.
Utility skills also help a little with work circulation. I can handle machinery and electricity well, also handle accounting, management, taxation, and financial management. Cost management is basic.
Your research may have some holes. Jerry Royster. Derrel Thomas. Chone Figgins. Marwin Gonzalez. Matt Carpenter. And that is just off the top of my head.
this adds to your point with the ground covered part, but when mantle was in center yankees stadium was actually 461 at its deepest part in left center and 449 to dead center. great video!
Good video. Although I'm sure Kim could play 1B or OF in a pinch. Hoping the Giants break the bank to sign Kim next year, and pari him up with Lee. The super Korean connection! Also: Mauricio Dubon sums up Zaidi's tenure with the Giants as GM. Dude was smart enough to get him in the first place, but too short sighted / impatient to hold onto what he had.
I do have to disagree with the statement that playing more positions impacted their offense. A lot of players need to be the super utility because they can’t hit well enough. There is no correlation
@1:20 I agree that belly doesn't make the cut which I agree with, but you say belly who plays center doesn't count, to this I object as he can play corners, just he's good enough to be a starting center fielder, so he does in my mind at least play 4 positions, with just 1 being infield as such falling short of your definition.
The Cardinals had a secret weapon name Jose Oquendo. He has played all the positions and even pitch a couple games and as a catcher as at least 1 game in 1988.
Ben came and visited my little league team in 2008 to talk about the gospel and god to everyone and how it helped him in his baseball journey. He gave us all signed balls and card, what a lad.
Growing up going to valleycats games, and still to this day, Ben Zobrist is a hero. He is the super utility man of my generation, and I rooted so hard for Zobrist. I remember when the valley cats were founded, and I would go to most of their home games. It was amazing as a teen! Ben Zobrist was so much better than literally everyone else on the field. He was playing ss mostly, and to reiterate, he was SO MUCH better than anyone else. It was really cool to have that 15 minutes down the road. Watching him win a World Series was great, but watching him go to another team and immediately win another one was so fucking amazing.
