There are a number of myths in baseball, many of them to make the game more mystical and entertaining. Did Jim Edmonds have to dive on all those baseballs hit his direction, probably not, but it looked cool and sold tickets.
Growing up, it was always a big topic of conversation when a player changed position...oh, no, it will never work! He's a shortstop, no way he can play centerfield! But Robin Yount is in the HOF. I remember a lot of angst at all the moves that Pete Rose made...successfully. The myth is that players are best at one position and that moving them is dangerous, because, well, he's an expert at third base but knows nothing about left field! People forget that these guys, for the most part, have been playing other positions in practice, since Little League, in high school and college, etc. Joe Madden is the anti-Reb. He's moved Coughlan from left to right to second to first. Bryant has played all over. Maddon knows that somewhere, sometime, Herrera has played every position on the diamond. Everyone thought he was a genius for how he used Zobrist and others in Tampa. Actually, he just spit in the face of myth and tradition. It wasn't genius, it was distain. These are athletes; some are locked into a position because they excel at it or because of lefthandedness, but they can all move. Successfully.
Myths? Players have been moving around on the diamond since 1875. When did anybody say that can't be done?
Yount moved from SS to CF. That's precisely, exactly, consistent with the defensive spectrum. Bryant, as a rookie, is certainly capable of moving around in the same season. Herrera, a utility guy, is used as a utility guy. Wholly unremarkable.
What you see rarely is players moving backwards on the spectrum as regulars after playing lesser positions for years. Coghlan playing 2B for a few games (and getting pulled defensively in 6th inning) was unorthodox but fleeting. Where is he playing now? One corner to another corner: RF or LF or 1B. Is Coghlan a 2B regular? No. Zobrist moves around in same season, a super utility guy. These kind of guys were very common in early days of baseball. Wholly unremarkable in big picture.
I'm talking about something else. If Schwarber is playing LF as a regular in 2016 and 2017 and not catching for two years, he isn't going to pick up where he left off as a catcher and move back there in 2018. If Bryant is an outfielder full-time in 2016 and 2017, highly unlikely you'd see him as a 3B regular in 2018. If Bryant is moved around simultaneously like Zobrist in same season, sure he could do that for some time. Different situation.
But, if you installed Mike Olt as your full time 3B and Bryant as full time LFer for couple of years, highly unlikely you'd ever see Bryant as a 3B regular again. Give me a bunch of examples that prove otherwise. And, let's keep the HOFers to a minimum.
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