Scott Rolen HOF

booth

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Scott Rolen was voted into the Baseball HOF yesterday by 5 votes. He played for 17 years and was an 8-time all-star. A great defensive player.
 

Freethinker

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Congratulations to Rolen! He was a great all around player.

I was listening to NYC’s premier sport talk radio station (not espn) driving home last night and the a-hole host was really upset that Rolen was voted in. He was saying he was never a feared hitter and 3rd base isn’t a “key position” where great defense is needed like SS or CF. All the players he cried about being better just happened to be black. Sheffield, Andruw Jones and Albert Belle. I’m sure that was a coincidence.

As I said this guy was a clown and only a “bumper” host so maybe I should have not gotten so annoyed.
 

icsept

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I was a little surprised that he made it. However the guys on MLB Network made a really good case for him, and according to some advanced metrics he graded out as the 2nd best all-around 3rd baseman behind Mike Schmidt.
 

Flint

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At first glance It seems a little reach for Rolen but if you consider Harold Baines hall worthy then Scott Rolen is ten times as deserving. Third base is a tough position and one of the least represented in the HOF. Actually surprising the voters got it right.
 

Don Wassall

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I'll be the party pooper as I consider Rolen a dubious selection, the continuation of the trend of cheapening the HOF by electing players not clearly worthy, with Baines being but the most notable example. Looking at this year's voting results, in the next few years it looks like Todd Helton, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran will all get in with Helton and Wagner looking like shoo-ins.

I just can't get excited about any of them. At his peak Helton was a tremendous hitter, but his peak only lasted from '98 through '05, after that his stats were much more pedestrian. Wagner's main qualification is that he's 6th all time in saves, but is that enough to get him in compared to other notable relief pitchers, who traditionally have a hard time getting voted in?

And then there's the Veterans' Committee, which outlived its usefulness and reason for being about a half century ago, which will continue to make sure players even more borderline than some getting in now will still get in down the line.

Hall membership has been and will continue to be cheapened. And given how specialized pitching has become, along with the current lack of great hitters enjoying long mostly healthy careers, it will only get worse from here. There just aren't many surefire HOF superstars playing these days.
 

white is right

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I'll be the party pooper as I consider Rolen a dubious selection, the continuation of the trend of cheapening the HOF by electing players not clearly worthy, with Baines being but the most notable example. Looking at this year's voting results, in the next few years it looks like Todd Helton, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran will all get in with Helton and Wagner looking like shoo-ins.

I just can't get excited about any of them. At his peak Helton was a tremendous hitter, but his peak only lasted from '98 through '05, after that his stats were much more pedestrian. Wagner's main qualification is that he's 6th all time in saves, but is that enough to get him in compared to other notable relief pitchers, who traditionally have a hard time getting voted in?

And then there's the Veterans' Committee, which outlived its usefulness and reason for being about a half century ago, which will continue to make sure players even more borderline than some getting in now will still get in down the line.

Hall membership has been and will continue to be cheapened. And given how specialized pitching has become, along with the current lack of great hitters enjoying long mostly healthy careers, it will only get worse from here. There just aren't many surefire HOF superstars playing these days.
The process needs to be blown up and restructured from the base. We have too many writers who act like they are the high priests of baseball and are acting like the moral police for baseball when it comes to PED usage but even here they are wildly inconsistent as they are barring most players but letting in fan favorites(Ortiz) or making players wait who had rumored usage (Piazza and Bagwell). Also it seems like weaker players who have no PED rumors are now getting in like Rolen because the various players who are putting up legendary numbers seem to all have PED baggage.

Rolen to me seems like a veterans committee type player but even this process seems to be watered down with Baines and Minosa who I don't recall anybody clamoring for before he was inducted. I think these committees should meet much less often as unlike football very few baseball players fall through the cracks of the voting process. I don't think a modern era Gil Hodges type will ever have to wait as long as he did to be elected.
 
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Rolen is a dubious pick. He could have been an all time great, but he was never the same after he injured his shoulder with the Cardinals.

The HOF has def. been watered down.

A big problem now is that almost all of the "great" players for a 20-30 year period were busted for roids. And i personally don't think these people should get into the HOF. Roids took a guy like sosa from 20-25 HRs / year to all of a sudden 60. Bonds hitting 73 HR at age 36? Give me a break. Clearly roids make a huge difference.

So if the "great" players for a 20-30 year period aren't getting into the HOF because of roids, then who gets in? We'll never know who was clean, who wasn't, and how much of a difference the roids made. Or who got cheated out of major awards / batting titles / roster spots by roid users. Don't forget that Bryce Harper got cheated out of a batting title by dee gordon who got busted for roids shortly after.
 
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Rolen is a dubious pick. He could have been an all time great, but he was never the same after he injured his shoulder with the Cardinals.

The HOF has def. been watered down.

A big problem now is that almost all of the "great" players for a 20-30 year period were busted for roids. And i personally don't think these people should get into the HOF. Roids took a guy like sosa from 20-25 HRs / year to all of a sudden 60. Bonds hitting 73 HR at age 36? Give me a break. Clearly roids make a huge difference.

So if the "great" players for a 20-30 year period aren't getting into the HOF because of roids, then who gets in? We'll never know who was clean, who wasn't, and how much of a difference the roids made. Or who got cheated out of major awards / batting titles / roster spots by roid users. Don't forget that Bryce Harper got cheated out of a batting title by dee gordon who got busted for roids shortly after.
Now that i think about it, from watching many Cardinal games in my day, Jim Edmonds is more HOF worthy than Rolen. And even Jim would be a dubious selection because he doesn't have the lifetime numbers, but he was a truly great player with better numbers and better defense than Rolen (albeit at a different position).
 

Carolina Speed

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I'll be the party pooper as I consider Rolen a dubious selection, the continuation of the trend of cheapening the HOF by electing players not clearly worthy, with Baines being but the most notable example. Looking at this year's voting results, in the next few years it looks like Todd Helton, Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran will all get in with Helton and Wagner looking like shoo-ins.

I just can't get excited about any of them. At his peak Helton was a tremendous hitter, but his peak only lasted from '98 through '05, after that his stats were much more pedestrian. Wagner's main qualification is that he's 6th all time in saves, but is that enough to get him in compared to other notable relief pitchers, who traditionally have a hard time getting voted in?

And then there's the Veterans' Committee, which outlived its usefulness and reason for being about a half century ago, which will continue to make sure players even more borderline than some getting in now will still get in down the line.

Hall membership has been and will continue to be cheapened. And given how specialized pitching has become, along with the current lack of great hitters enjoying long mostly healthy careers, it will only get worse from here. There just aren't many surefire HOF superstars playing these days.
I guess I will too. Someone once said, If there's any hesitation when mentioning a MLB players name being worthy of the HOF then they shouldn't be in. When I say Scott Rolen, immediately I know he's not deserving. His stats in many categories are not as good as Baines, and Baines shouldn't be in either. Baines hit 70 more homeruns, had almost 800 more hits, almost 400 more RBI's and had a higher lifetime BA. .289 to .281 than Rolen.
Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Wade Boggs, Eddie Mathews, (Brooks Robinson, borderline stats, but did when an MVP). Rolen is nowhere near these famous third basemen.
Rolen was very good player, but it's the Hall of Fame. Not the Hall of Very Good.
 

SneakyQuick

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Should the hall be about the stats or their relative worth to their teams ? Like I remember Phil rizzuto getting inducted. I actually went there to see it and it was hilarious

But if you look at his numbers they weren’t that outstanding…. Mostly it was because he was the longtime tv voice of the Yankees and everyone in the greater New York area loves the scooter.

Anyway, I’m glad he got in but guys like Eddie Murray even though he had great lifetime numbers don’t excite me. There is something unquantifiable about it in my opinion or at least there should be
 

Carolina Speed

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Should the hall be about the stats or their relative worth to their teams ? Like I remember Phil rizzuto getting inducted. I actually went there to see it and it was hilarious

But if you look at his numbers they weren’t that outstanding…. Mostly it was because he was the longtime tv voice of the Yankees and everyone in the greater New York area loves the scooter.

Anyway, I’m glad he got in but guys like Eddie Murray even though he had great lifetime numbers don’t excite me. There is something unquantifiable about it in my opinion or at least there should be
Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Scott Rolen. I stand corrected. Rolen deserves to be in the HOF with this elite group. LOL.
 

Flint

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Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Scott Rolen. I stand corrected. Rolen deserves to be in the HOF with this elite group. LOL.
I get where you are coming from but Rolan was a 3rd baseman and shouldn’t be compared to guys at hitting positions. He had a career WAR of 70 which ranks him 69th. It’s difficult to factor fielding in a players value unless you consider things like WAR.
 

Carolina Speed

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I get where you are coming from but Rolan was a 3rd baseman and shouldn’t be compared to guys at hitting positions. He had a career WAR of 70 which ranks him 69th. It’s difficult to factor fielding in a players value unless you consider things like WAR.
I'm not sure what WAR you're looking at? I have Brooks Robinson ranked 69th. Rolen is 103rd.
If no one here believes Harold Baines should be in with way better stats than Rolen, why should Rolen? At 70.1 WAR, that's the best thing going for him, but he really has done nothing else to be in the elite HOF.
Hard to believe that HOF Tony Gwynn led the league in BA. 8 times. Career BA. of.338 and has a lower WAR than Rolen. Gwynn 109th at 69.2.
The great second baseman Ryne Sandberg sits at 122nd with 68.
 

booth

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I never thought one way or the other if Rolen was a HOF player or not. I just knew he was a solid player and played in a couple of World Series. I ran across this article trying to see who the Cardinals played in the Series. I thought it was an interesting read and wanted to share it.
 

Don Wassall

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I get where you are coming from but Rolan was a 3rd baseman and shouldn’t be compared to guys at hitting positions. He had a career WAR of 70 which ranks him 69th. It’s difficult to factor fielding in a players value unless you consider things like WAR.
What do you consider the "hitting positions"? I've always thought of them as third base, first base and outfield.
 

Flint

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What do you consider the "hitting positions"? I've always thought of them as third base, first base and outfield.
Yes I guess 3b is considered more of a hitters position then say SS or 2b, but the HOF’s from that position seem to be lesser hitters then OF’s.

Up until Schmidt, Brett, Boggs, the best 3b was considered Pie Traynor. Matthews was good but it fell off after those two.

My point was Rolen should be compared to Chipper Jones and Paul Molitor, not Ruth and Cobb.
 

Carolina Speed

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My point was Rolen should be compared to Chipper Jones and Paul Molitor, not Ruth and Cobb.
I was going to mention these two HOF third baseman, but I was trying to be brief and not mention every great player and third baseman. Rolen doesn't compare to these two either stat wise. If you don't want to use stats, what else do you have for comparison? I don't want to go down the list of Jones and Molitor's stats, but they are WAY better than Rolen's. Jones way more homeruns and Molitor way more hits and stolen bases.
Ok I'm going to mention Molitor. he had over 500 stolen bases and 3,300 career hits and lifetime .306 BA. Rolen 2077 hits, 118 sb's and .281 career BA. Not in the same league as Molitor. I won't get into Jones' stats.
Ok one more stat with Jones. He has the classic .300/.400./.500 slash line. I believe only 22 major league players in history have this stat.
 
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Flint

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I was going to mention these two HOF third baseman, but I was trying to be brief and not mention every great player and third baseman. Rolen doesn't compare to these two either stat wise. If you don't want to use stats, what else do you have for comparison? I don't want to go down the list of Jones and Molitor's stats, but they are WAY better than Rolen's. Jones way more homeruns and Molitor way more hits and stolen bases.
Ok I'm going to mention Molitor. he had over 500 stolen bases and 3,300 career hits and lifetime .306 BA. Rolen 2077 hits, 118 sb's and .281 career BA. Not in the same league as Molitor. I won't get into Jones' stats.
Ok one more stat with Jones. He has the classic .300/.400./.500 slash line. I believe only 22 major league players in history have this stat.
Well at least you’ve come down from the Ruth/Cobb/Williams standard for Hall induction!!
Because I love a good baseball argument I'll continue to make the Rolen case in the face of opposition from the grumpy old timers that only want the greatest to get plaques.

Here's a good article in defense of Rolen.

Some snips:
Cooperstown generally doesn’t know what to do with third basemen. Out of 220 players in the Hall of Fame, only 12 are third basemen.

It takes a lot of talent in many different areas to last at third base. There aren’t many “bat only” third basemen who are complete defensive liabilities. Only two full-time third basemen in history—Eddie Yost and Bill Madlock—were were worth 100 or more runs below average at third base (per Baseball-Reference). Both of them hit well enough to make up for it (Madlock won four batting titles and Yost led the league in on-base percentage twice). Similarly, you don’t see too many glove-only third basemen like you see at shortstop. Aurelio Rodriguez and Clete Boyer come to mind, but both of them had some pop that kept them in the lineup in addition to their great gloves.

The best third basemen are the ones who do everything well—and those are precisely the types of players Cooperstown struggles to induct.

The reason Rolen’s Hall Rating is so high (142) is because his WAR total from Baseball-Reference (70.0) is so high. WAR contains several components covering many areas of a player’s value, such as batting, fielding, baserunning, and the value of the position he played. In order to decide if we trust Rolen’s WAR total, we must trust his components individually. So let’s take a look at them.

That’s right, as good as Rolen was with the glove, he was worth more at the plate. Let’s see if that holds up to scrutiny.

Rolen collected 2,077 hits, 316 home runs, 517 doubles, and 899 walks. Those are not overwhelming numbers, I’ll admit. Yet only 23 other players have achieved them and only 16 are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Of those 16, 12 are Hall of Famers. Of the four who didn’t make it, three are only on the outside because of connections to PEDs (Bonds, Palmeiro, Ramirez). The other is Luis Gonzalez. “Ah ha!” you say. “Rolen is no better than Luis Gonzalez and he’s no Hall of Famer!” But was Luis Gonzalez one of the 2–5 best fielding third basemen of all time? He was not.

Let’s look at Rolen’s rate stats:

  • He hit .281 when the league hit .268 (+13 points)
  • He had a .364 OBP when the league got on base at .339 clip (+25)
  • He slugged .490 when the league slugged .429 (+61)

A large amount of Rolen’s value comes from his defense. But was he as great a fielder as WAR suggests?

He ranks third in Baseball-Reference’s fielding component among full-time third basemen with 175 runs. Beltre is second with 230 and first is (of course) Brooks Robinson. Defensive prowess is a hard thing to prove statistically if you don’t trust the advanced metrics, but let’s see if we can find reasons to believe (or reason to doubt) Rolen’s rating.

Rolen also happens to have won the third most Gold Gloves at third base in history with eight. Robinson is first with sixteen, but Mike Schmidt sneaks ahead of him with ten. WAR also loves Schmidt’s defense, giving him 127 runs above average. After Rolen, three players have six Gold Gloves. Buddy Bell is right behind Rolen in fielding runs too (with 174). Robin Ventura isn’t far behind with 155. The only anomaly is Eric Chavez, but Chavez won all of his Gold Gloves in his 20s and then proceeded to see his career decimated by injuries.

The correlation between Gold Gloves and fielding runs among third basemen seems surprisingly high.
 

Leonardfan

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I always liked Rolen as a player. He was really good third baseman. He was always one of the best third basemen in the league during his prime and was a phenomenal defensive player. His offensive numbers never deviated like so many of his contemporaries who abused PEDs either so I would assume he was not a PED user but a natural athlete. That makes his numbers that much more impressive and respectable. As a baseball "purist" I don't find too much wrong with getting inducted.
 

Carolina Speed

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Well at least you’ve come down from the Ruth/Cobb/Williams standard for Hall induction!!
Because I love a good baseball argument I'll continue to make the Rolen case in the face of opposition from the grumpy old timers that only want the greatest to get plaques.
Haha. That's funny Flint. That's me a grumpy old timer to most here probably being in my late 50's. You make a good argument for Rolen, and you also say I've come down from Ruth, Cobb, Williams, etc. I guess that makes for a good question. How far do we come down? To come down to Jones and certainly Molitor. One player has the .300/.400/.500 slash line which only few ever had and a player with 3,300 hits, 500 stolen bases and a lifetime .306 BA. Higher than Pete Rose and Mantle I might add.
Rolen's WAR stat and the eight gold gloves are impressive, but I guess offensive wise there may not be a bottom.
BTW, you did see where Rolen was 103rd in WAR, not 69th. Brooks Robinson is 69th.
 
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Well at least you’ve come down from the Ruth/Cobb/Williams standard for Hall induction!!
Because I love a good baseball argument I'll continue to make the Rolen case in the face of opposition from the grumpy old timers that only want the greatest to get plaques.

Here's a good article in defense of Rolen.

Some snips:
Cooperstown generally doesn’t know what to do with third basemen. Out of 220 players in the Hall of Fame, only 12 are third basemen.

It takes a lot of talent in many different areas to last at third base. There aren’t many “bat only” third basemen who are complete defensive liabilities. Only two full-time third basemen in history—Eddie Yost and Bill Madlock—were were worth 100 or more runs below average at third base (per Baseball-Reference). Both of them hit well enough to make up for it (Madlock won four batting titles and Yost led the league in on-base percentage twice). Similarly, you don’t see too many glove-only third basemen like you see at shortstop. Aurelio Rodriguez and Clete Boyer come to mind, but both of them had some pop that kept them in the lineup in addition to their great gloves.

The best third basemen are the ones who do everything well—and those are precisely the types of players Cooperstown struggles to induct.

The reason Rolen’s Hall Rating is so high (142) is because his WAR total from Baseball-Reference (70.0) is so high. WAR contains several components covering many areas of a player’s value, such as batting, fielding, baserunning, and the value of the position he played. In order to decide if we trust Rolen’s WAR total, we must trust his components individually. So let’s take a look at them.

That’s right, as good as Rolen was with the glove, he was worth more at the plate. Let’s see if that holds up to scrutiny.

Rolen collected 2,077 hits, 316 home runs, 517 doubles, and 899 walks. Those are not overwhelming numbers, I’ll admit. Yet only 23 other players have achieved them and only 16 are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Of those 16, 12 are Hall of Famers. Of the four who didn’t make it, three are only on the outside because of connections to PEDs (Bonds, Palmeiro, Ramirez). The other is Luis Gonzalez. “Ah ha!” you say. “Rolen is no better than Luis Gonzalez and he’s no Hall of Famer!” But was Luis Gonzalez one of the 2–5 best fielding third basemen of all time? He was not.

Let’s look at Rolen’s rate stats:

  • He hit .281 when the league hit .268 (+13 points)
  • He had a .364 OBP when the league got on base at .339 clip (+25)
  • He slugged .490 when the league slugged .429 (+61)

A large amount of Rolen’s value comes from his defense. But was he as great a fielder as WAR suggests?

He ranks third in Baseball-Reference’s fielding component among full-time third basemen with 175 runs. Beltre is second with 230 and first is (of course) Brooks Robinson. Defensive prowess is a hard thing to prove statistically if you don’t trust the advanced metrics, but let’s see if we can find reasons to believe (or reason to doubt) Rolen’s rating.

Rolen also happens to have won the third most Gold Gloves at third base in history with eight. Robinson is first with sixteen, but Mike Schmidt sneaks ahead of him with ten. WAR also loves Schmidt’s defense, giving him 127 runs above average. After Rolen, three players have six Gold Gloves. Buddy Bell is right behind Rolen in fielding runs too (with 174). Robin Ventura isn’t far behind with 155. The only anomaly is Eric Chavez, but Chavez won all of his Gold Gloves in his 20s and then proceeded to see his career decimated by injuries.

The correlation between Gold Gloves and fielding runs among third basemen seems surprisingly high.
Excellent analysis and you've softened my stance on Rolen's worthiness of the HOF. I still think he shouldn't be in, but clearly he's better than Baines and others that are in. The problem for Rolen is that it's so hard to quantify his defense. If you look at Rolen's age 22-29 seasons, he was on track for HOF. By age 30 with his shoulder injury he was done being great, and age 30-37 he was just mediocre, at least offensively. So that's 8 lost years of offensive production for him.
 

white is right

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I found this article on Joey Votto being the new typical future hall of fame member. On the surface you would think Votto has no chance with the way his career hit the skids as he will probably miss key milestones numbers of 400 home runs, 2500 hits and 1500 RBI's but it seems that voters care more about peak ability and how many years players had these years even if the rest of their career is injury prone with mediocre numbers. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/35523533/mlb-joey-votto-future-hall-fame
 

Freethinker

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Well at least you’ve come down from the Ruth/Cobb/Williams standard for Hall induction!!
Because I love a good baseball argument I'll continue to make the Rolen case in the face of opposition from the grumpy old timers that only want the greatest to get plaques.

Here's a good article in defense of Rolen.

Some snips:
Cooperstown generally doesn’t know what to do with third basemen. Out of 220 players in the Hall of Fame, only 12 are third basemen.

It takes a lot of talent in many different areas to last at third base. There aren’t many “bat only” third basemen who are complete defensive liabilities. Only two full-time third basemen in history—Eddie Yost and Bill Madlock—were were worth 100 or more runs below average at third base (per Baseball-Reference). Both of them hit well enough to make up for it (Madlock won four batting titles and Yost led the league in on-base percentage twice). Similarly, you don’t see too many glove-only third basemen like you see at shortstop. Aurelio Rodriguez and Clete Boyer come to mind, but both of them had some pop that kept them in the lineup in addition to their great gloves.

The best third basemen are the ones who do everything well—and those are precisely the types of players Cooperstown struggles to induct.

The reason Rolen’s Hall Rating is so high (142) is because his WAR total from Baseball-Reference (70.0) is so high. WAR contains several components covering many areas of a player’s value, such as batting, fielding, baserunning, and the value of the position he played. In order to decide if we trust Rolen’s WAR total, we must trust his components individually. So let’s take a look at them.

That’s right, as good as Rolen was with the glove, he was worth more at the plate. Let’s see if that holds up to scrutiny.

Rolen collected 2,077 hits, 316 home runs, 517 doubles, and 899 walks. Those are not overwhelming numbers, I’ll admit. Yet only 23 other players have achieved them and only 16 are eligible for the Hall of Fame. Of those 16, 12 are Hall of Famers. Of the four who didn’t make it, three are only on the outside because of connections to PEDs (Bonds, Palmeiro, Ramirez). The other is Luis Gonzalez. “Ah ha!” you say. “Rolen is no better than Luis Gonzalez and he’s no Hall of Famer!” But was Luis Gonzalez one of the 2–5 best fielding third basemen of all time? He was not.

Let’s look at Rolen’s rate stats:

  • He hit .281 when the league hit .268 (+13 points)
  • He had a .364 OBP when the league got on base at .339 clip (+25)
  • He slugged .490 when the league slugged .429 (+61)

A large amount of Rolen’s value comes from his defense. But was he as great a fielder as WAR suggests?

He ranks third in Baseball-Reference’s fielding component among full-time third basemen with 175 runs. Beltre is second with 230 and first is (of course) Brooks Robinson. Defensive prowess is a hard thing to prove statistically if you don’t trust the advanced metrics, but let’s see if we can find reasons to believe (or reason to doubt) Rolen’s rating.

Rolen also happens to have won the third most Gold Gloves at third base in history with eight. Robinson is first with sixteen, but Mike Schmidt sneaks ahead of him with ten. WAR also loves Schmidt’s defense, giving him 127 runs above average. After Rolen, three players have six Gold Gloves. Buddy Bell is right behind Rolen in fielding runs too (with 174). Robin Ventura isn’t far behind with 155. The only anomaly is Eric Chavez, but Chavez won all of his Gold Gloves in his 20s and then proceeded to see his career decimated by injuries.

The correlation between Gold Gloves and fielding runs among third basemen seems surprisingly high.
Excellent post that I fully agree with. I think the article proves he’s worthy, as he’s amongst the top fraction of a percent of 3rd basemen to ever play. Maybe if you rank him compared to every player ever at all positions, he’d be far down the list. But if your only talking 3rd base, then I think he’s elite which is who is supposed to be in the HoF.

Totally anecdotal but I played a lot of baseball growing up until I was around 15 or 16. I only ever played infield since I sucked at judging fly balls. Anyway I played a lot of 1st base and SS when I was younger. Short because I was one of the best for my age group and that’s where you put the best. At 1st I was great at scoping any bad throw in the dirt and I didn’t even own a fancy 1st basemen’s mitt. A few years later, new coach insists a 1st basemen needs to be left handed so I get moved to 3rd. It was the hardest position imo. Most kids are right handed and when you smoke a pitch, you usually pull the ball making for alot of balls being hit at you like a rocket. Need quick reflexes. Then you need to have a great arm to make a long throw, that if your accuracy is a little off, is easy to sail the ball over or wide left / right. You also sometimes have the pitcher getting in the way of your line. After years struggling and hating it I eventually moved to 2nd base, where you didn’t see much action and when you did, had an easy throw to make before my baseball days flamed out.

Shortstop often is considered a hard defensive position but I found it easier than 3rd. Other than having to range further, the throw is easier and you have more time to react to hard hit balls. I have great respect for 3rd basemen who field the position well.
 
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