I am a very casual fan of baseball. I do not watch games on TV, but have gone to some minor league games in the past. I have never played the sport.

My question, do baseball players have to play defense and offense? As in, a great hitter who can hit .300 and mostly long balls and home runs but is just worthless in any position in the field. Cant catch, field or throw the ball at all.

Or an amazing defensive player, a pitcher, outfielder, second baseman who just cant hit the ball...at all. The pitcher with a 1.5 ERA who is .100 as a hitter. In football, a player plays one side of the ball depending on their position, they dont play both ways. In baseball, at least with kids, they do, do they in MLB?

I'll start by defining a position player as one on the field, 8 of them, along with the pitcher -- when a team is on defense.

In professional baseball, position players play defense and also go to the plate and hit. The pitcher also must hit, with an exception in the American League for example, a DH - Designated Hitter - takes the pitcher's place in the batting order, but does not play on the field.

So a great hitter with poor defensive skills may be a DH, if permitted in that league. Oftentimes a DH is an older player nearing the end of his career.

A great defensive position player, poor at the plate, is still required to hit if playing in the game at the time; at a critical time however, since that player is weak at the plate, he may be "pulled" -- replaced by a pinch hitter -- usually late in a close game. A poor baserunner who has made a hit may be replaced by a pinch runner on the bases, once again if it's critical.

So it's very much a "two-way" player game, unless a DH is permitted, or the manager does things like using a pinch hitter or runner to pull out a win.

On top of the very good info that biffbronson just shared with you, I'll volunteer a few of the finer aspects.

Players having all 5 "tools" ....above average hitting, hitting for power, fielding, speed, and throwing....are the ones getting the huge contracts. Players who can only hit well are still in demand, but seldom command the stratospheric salaries as the "all around" players.

A common strategy for teams trying to be thrifty is to put great hitting/so-so fielding players into their starting line ups, hoping they will produce more runs than they give away...and then rounding out their rosters with a few poor hitting/great fielding players called "utility men" who are usually put into games the team is already leading, for the later innings as replacements for the guys who can hit but not field.

One down side to this strategy is that with limited roster sizes, when your "extras" are all-glove and no-bat, that leaves you with a very thin bench for pinch hitters being available for high leverage opportunities.

Usually, tight fisted teams who load up their rosters with cheap "utility" type players,... end up feeding their fans some hokum about being in a "rebuild" phase, with emphasis on "the future" etc

Good gloves generally being lower priced than great bats.