Anyone who has been reading Pinstripe Alley for a while knows that I like to talk about arguably the most mundane defensive position on the diamond, that of the first like offensive linemen in the NFL, first basemen only draw attention to themselves when something goes wrong, either when they save an infielder from a throwing error with a nice play or when they cost their team an out by botching a then, we tend not to focus on individual plays, but only begin to focus on it when disaster repeatedly strikes see, for example, the Jay Bruce experiment at the start of season, Ben Rice’s play at the cold corner wasI wouldn’t exactly call it disastrous, but it was clear that he had only 99 innings of professional experience at the position heading into the season.I’m not generally a fan of how defensive metrics treat first base they tend to rate range too highly, which is important, but not that important for first basemen but Defensive Runs Saved considered him below average, with a score of 2 in 370 innings for their part, Statcast had him worth a perfectly even 0 Outs Above Average.Those numbers track the eye times, he looked good, such as when he made this diving stop last other times, he looked very much like a catcher the Yankees handed a first baseman’s mitt and told, Go out there, kid.Much like spring training Will Warren Jersey, the first week of the season is a time of overanalysis and overreaction, and this year, Rice’s defense has been one of the bigger 27yearold reported to Tampa in January, before the official report dates, making time for extra reps in between work in the batting cage and as a bullpen catcher, and seeking advice from Paul , it’s still early, but the immediate returns suggest that this work has paid it’s still too early to talk defensive metrics although I will say he has been worth 1 DRS, he has put together a nice sizzle reel of plays that he would not have made last to reporters the other day, Aaron Judge highlighted this play from last week’s game against the San Francisco Giants:Since the Captain brought this play up, let’s break it the righthanded Matt Chapman up at the plate, the defense was shifted to the left, so naturally, Chapman slapped a groundball to the right side of the you can see from this shot, which is the earliest shot we have of the infield from the broadcast, the ball ended up in No Man’s Land, between both Rice and second baseman Jazz Chisholm are, in my opinion, one of the most difficult plays for a first baseman: Do I go after the ball, or do I trust my second baseman and make a dash for first?
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