Defense Lessons from Rangers Utility Man Josh Smith + Matthew Trueblood on The Disappearing DP

On this episode, Mark Simon (@markasimonsays) is joined by Rangers utility man Josh Smith (@joshhsmith4), baseball writer Matthew Trueblood (@MATrueblood) and SIS operations associate Mark Bricker (@brick26house). Mark S. and Josh talk about Josh’s move to different positions, his approach to playing defense, and the tip he’d give to any kids that want to play defense like he does (a different answer than we usually get) (3:28). Matt and Mark talk about Matt’s defense-oriented articles, including one on the aggressive defense of Willy Adames, the slight decline in William Conteras’ pitch framing, the disappearance of the double play, and the experience of watching Eduoard Julien field 400 batted balls (13:15). The two Marks then talk about Bryce Harper’s defensive approach, how Shota Imanaga has changed as a pitcher, and how the Yankees and Phillies are dominating with one pitching plan and the Brewers are winning with another (27:53).Thank you for listening. Please check out Archive.FieldingBible.com for your defensive stats needs, follow us on Twitter at @sis_baseball, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at [email protected].