Hitters do not face these potential injuries, allowing the ball to be hit harder and further. Hitters work out with weights nearly year-round. Decreased Premium on Defensive Skill . Throughout baseball history, the importance of tangible defense skills has continually decreased. Gloves are bigger, fields are perfect, balls are perfect.
Defense is easier to play, and therefore there is a less of a premium on defensive skill.
Even at the skill positions, managers have more freedom. Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski - all played middle infield in the minor leagues. Were they to come up today, some of them might have continued to play the infield. Harder Baseballs . One former Major Leaguer admitted to me that today's balls are like rocks compared to the balls he swung at in the '80s.