Trammell Back, Klew to 10 Day IL

[bpj]

Center is less physically demanding than either corner? There's a take I've never heard before...

[AT Funchal-Madeira]

Center is less physically demanding than either corner? There's a take I've never heard before...

Amazing.... and to think the M's put Junior in a corner outfield spot when he returned at the end of his career.... just a few times, but they shoulda put him in center cause it's less demanding..... who knew??

[Lincoln2207]

I'm getting afraid it's just going to be one thing after another. Let's make him the dh. I know it will be a loss for him and for the club, but in the long run it might save his career -- if not, another serious injury and he could be done or at best a journeyman.

[ddraig]

And it isn't as if we don't have a small surplus of Outfielders that "should" be MLB capable in a year or so.

[Petert]

"Everyone knows the corners are more physically demanding because you deal with the side walls. Either spot you're going to be required to run and jump and even dive. But the side wall can be avoided when in center

Disagree.

The only way in which corner outfielders (and this is primarily the right fielder) have a larger challenge than the centerfielder is in tracking fly balls. Fly balls to the CF tend to travel in a more or less straight path to points within that fielder's coverage because of the angle the bat strikes the ball at, and the position of the bat in reference to the centerfield position (swing arc at point of contact). Balls to the corner outfielders can tend to slice more because of the effect of the spin rate imparted on the ball at the angle of contact point. (Balls to the centerfielder tend to more directly float instead of slice because the spin rate is imparted more to the center of the ball.) The centerfielder covers more ground than either corner, has to have the better arm in order to command throws from the deepest part of the outfield, covers either corner outfielder in backup, and has to be faster than either out of necessity. It's why the CF is generally the best conditioned athlete on the team.

"The Physics of Baseball" by Robert Adair goes pretty deep on this stuff, and is a fascinating read, to boot.