Community Discussion: Pitcher Conversions

The 2012 success of Jason Motte has me thinking about the issue of hitter-to-pitcher conversions. As we examined a few days ago, Motte began his career as a catcher, but converted to mound work when it became obvious that he couldn't hit well enough for his strong arm to matter behind the plate. Another recent example from 2012 is hard-throwing Pedro Strop over in Baltimore, a former infielder.

One of the best examples in recent baseball history is Trevor Hoffman, who began his career as a light-hitting infielder and ended it with 601 saves, seven All-Star nods, and a ticket to the Hall of Fame.

So let's have some fun here. Look at your favorite team. If you could take one position player from the organization and convert him to a pitcher, who would it be? It might be fun to speculate with proven players....what would Starlin Castro do on the mound, for example...but you can also focus on guys who aren't regulars. Look at the bench guys, scrubs, Triple-A roster fillers, or someone in the minors.

Who would you like to convert to a pitcher?