Do athletes in team sports universally change positions as they advance skill level? (i.e. from youth to scholastic to college, to professional)
Not always, but there are a lot of them who do in football.
Antwaan Randle El, for instance played QB in college and converted to (mostly) wide reciever when he went to the NFL. There are some players like him who play as option QBs in college who are moved to reciever when they get to the NFL because of their speed.
Another odd example that I can think of is Ty Hallock who played tight end, fullback, and linebacker while in the NFL. He played fullback for the Bears in 1998 and 1999 before converting to linebacker for his final year there. I always thought that was kind of odd because he never played defense that year, only special teams, so switching positions didn’t seem to make much sense.
It’s extremely common for soccer players to move further back on the field as they advance in competition. Forwards are generally more technically skilled than midfielders, who are generally more technically skilled than defenders. So, when they can’t hack it at one level, they’ll move to defense and continue playing.
More than often they don’t but there are a few. Next year you can bet that Michigan’s QB Denard Robinson will be drafted by the NFL, just not as a QB.
Universally? No. But it’s not unusual.
Anyone good enough to be a professional athlete was very likely the best player by far on his youth team, and was probably at whatever position has the most impact: quarterback, point guard, pitcher, center midfielder, etc. Specialization tends to come at the later stages.
In baseball the very best players in youth and high school ball usually play a key defensive position AND pitch. As they progress they’ll either find they’re good enough to hit but not pitch or vice versa; players who can do both are exceedingly rare, as the skill sets are so different they might as well be different sports.
Position players who do not pitch but who are elite athletes will usually concentrate on a key defensive position - catcher or shortstop (as long as they’re right handed) or center field, depending on their skills. As they advance, if they are found wanting as compared to other elite players, they’ll move to other positions as their skills dictate; shortstops will be moved to second base if they’re quick but don’t quite have the arm strength, or third base if they’re less nimble but have strong arms. Center fielders will be moved to right if they have good enough arms. If the player lacks both speed and arm strength, but can hit, he’ll end up at first base or left field. Someone who starts out catching but isn’t quite up to playing that position could move most anywhere depending on skill set.
ETA: It occurred to me that someone who wasn’t familiar with baseball might not understand my parenthetical (as long as they’re right handed) comment. To clarify, a lefthanded player cannot play second base, shortstop, or third base effectively in competetive baseball, because they are facing the wrong way to make the throw to first base when they catch a ground ball. Lefthanders also don’t play catcher; although rationalizations for that are often provided, that’s mostly just because it’s always been that way.
It’s pretty common in both baseball and football. In baseball it’s not unusual to hear about even a star player who played one position when he was drafted and was converted to another in the minors.
A lot of well-known athletes played one position in the minor leagues or in school, but became stars at a different position at the professional level.
Racism was probably part of the reason, but a LOT of black athletes who were stellar high school or college quqarterbacks have been moved to running back or wide receiver. Calvin Hill and Marcus Allen were both high school quarterbacks, but were moved to running back in college.
Mickey Mantle was a shortstop when the Yankees signed him, but was moved to the outfield as a minor leaguer.
Todd Christensen was a running back at Brigham Young University, but became an All-Pro tight end with the Oakland Raiders.
Elston Howard was a left fielder in the Negro Leagues, but when the Yankees signed him, they had Bill Dickey work with him, and taught him to be a catcher (though Howard still played left field regularly for the Yankees).
As mentioned, it’s very, very common in baseball. So much so that there is almost no such thing as a “second base prospect”. If you didn’t play shortstop in college or high school you likely aren’t good enough to play in the majors at second base.
There are also a surprising number of players that are drafted as both pitchers and position players and only assigned to one or the other as they progress. Catchers often become pitchers, as well (Cardinals reliever Jason Motte is one such animal).
And then after making the big leagues, there is a natural progression “down” the fielding curve. Which goes something like: P, C, SS, 2B, CF, 3B, RF, LF, 1B, DH. Very rarely do players move the other way, although pitcher and catcher really aren’t on the spectrum at all, IMO.
And any guy who has a strong arm but doesn’t hit well might wind up as a pitcher.
The full spectrum is only available to right handers, go ahead and scratch off 3B, SS, and 2B if you’re a lefty.
You’re right that at the big league level, pitchers aren’t on that spectrum at all. But it is common for catchers to switch to first base. And let’s not forget about Craig Biggio, who came up as a catcher who occasionally played in the outfield, then switched to second base, then to center field full-time, then back to second base again (with one last game at catcher in his final season!).
There are lefthanded shortstops and catchers. There just aren’t any who throw left handed. The Mets current catcher, Josh Thole, bats left, though, and the Mets have left-handed-hitting Daniel Murphy at second. Anyone who can bat left and play those positions is going to have a long career.
OTOH, it used to be very rare for a player to bat right and throw left. It’s more common now, since there used to be a prejudice against left handers playing center field or left field. That’s pretty much gone now.
Some players have to switch positions even during their major league career, some drastically. Rick Ankiel, for instance, came up as a pretty good pitcher, but very suddenly found it impossible to throw the ball over the plate in the middle of a postseason game (he as hitting the back screen on the fly). He went back to the minors and had a successful career as an outfielder. Stan Musial was originally a pitcher but switched to be a position player in the minors (he was an OK pitcher, but his batting numbers were spectacular). And, of course, there was Babe Ruth.
Is this actually true? It’s my perception that there are different skill sets required for strikers and midfielders. Strikers are better at shooting and are generally the fastest players on the field, whereas midfielders are stronger and have better passing/dribbling skills.
Related to this, when I saw the OP I immediately thought of football/soccer, where in youth leagues the best players often get put at the forward spot, just because it makes it easier for them to score a bunch of goals against overmatched defenders. A lot of these players end up at midfield later in their lives since their skills can be used more frequently on the pitch playing both on offense and defense.
There are no lefthanded shortstops. A person who is “left handed” throws the ball with his left hand, and cannot play short, second, or third. BATTING lefthanded is a different skill that can be independent of your natural “hand” preference. Being a switch hitter doesn’t mean you’re ambidextrous.
If there are any lefthanded people who throw a ball with their right hand, I’ve never met one. I am sure there are examples but it’s extraordinarily rare.
I THINK both Yogi Berra and Roger Maris fall into the category of lefties who threw with their right arms.
Yeah, if you mean that people who write left-handed always throw left-handed I’m pretty sure that’s not true.
The only one I could find quickly is from Cricket, but Sachin Tendulkar writes left-handed but bats and throws right-handed.
It appears to be even more common in soccer (cross-dominant hands vs. feet, which makes some sense).
ETA: On preview I see that you added only that it is very rare. That’s certainly true.
And in baseball the Knuckleball is such a weird skill, minor leaguers at any position might end up a pitcher if one if they could figure out how to throw one. Tim Wakefield was a fairly poor hitting and fielding prospect. But he figured out how to throw the Knuckle and could throw other pitches that weren’t complete jokes, and had a long pro career.
Of course with the pitch really out of favor, who knows if there will be another one.
In hockey it is very common for forwards to be drafted as centres and converted to wingers in the NHL. Playing centre requires a player to take faceoffs and typically has much more onerous defensive responsibilities. It is very common for the most skilled forward on a junior-level team to play centre, but not all of them can handle the position at the NHL level(and sometimes teams find themselves with a glut of centres – there are two winger positions for every centre, so it is not uncommon for teams to have “natural” centres playing the wing because they don’t have enough room at the centre position).
It is much more rare for a player to be converted between forward and defence. The positions are extremely different; typically a defenceman will not have the requisite puck-handling skills to be a competent forward and a forward will not be good enough at defensive positioning to play defence.
Converting between a goaltender and a skater is pretty much unheard of.
I’m not sure it’s true that forwards are more technically skilled than midfielders. But I think offensive players transitioning to defense as they move up the ladder isn’t all that uncommon. Don’t really see it happen the other way.