On this episode, we cover how playing volleyball helped a future minor league Gold Glover, got an explanation on how defensive positioning models are developed and talked about what stats belong on a baseball scoreboard.

Joining Mark Simon, our first guest was Marlins prospect Joe Mack, who won a Gold Glove as a catcher last season. Joe talked about how he developed at the position and what he's working on now.

Then Katie Krall, baseball analyst for Marquee Sports Network and former research analyst for the Reds and minor league coach with the Red Sox, shared her insights on defensive positioning, defensive stats, and why she wants to be thought of as the 'card on the wall at an art museum' of baseball analysts.

Lastly, Mark's colleague, Nick Rabasco came on to talk about a Bluesky thread from Sports-Reference president Sean Forman about scoreboards at MLB ballparks.

Examples of Katie's segments

Positioning cards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H61fpueO3M&pp=0gcJCYUJAYcqIYzv

Umpire accuracy on close pitches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek1gHUblh-s

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the new-and-improved FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.

On this episode, Mark Simon welcomes in ex-major leaguer Doug Glanville, FanGraphs writer Davy Andrews, and his SIS colleague, Mark Bricker.

Mark and Doug talked about Doug's new baseball newsletter, Welcome To Glanville and Mark pitched 3 ideas about defense that Doug could write about (Fernando Tatis The Gymnast is one).

From ideas for articles to actual articles, Mark and Davy talked about what Davy's written about defense this season on Elly De La Cruz, Oneil Cruz, and what adding/losing a Defensive Run Saved looks like early in the season.

And then Mark and Mark talked Roki Sasaki, the Phillies lineup, and the impressiveness of Pete Crow-Armstrong.


Welcome to Glanville
http://dougglanville.substack.com

Latest episode of Doug and Jayson Stark's podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starkville-mike-shildt-talks-about-the-surging-padres/id1558220009?i=1000704576444

Davy Andrews article links

Witnessing Elly De La Cruz
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/witnessing-elly-de-la-cruz

Oneil Cruz isn't a CF yet
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/oneil-cruz-isnt-a-center-fielder-yet

This is How You Lose A Fielding Run
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/this-is-how-you-earn-or-lose-one-fielding-run

When Ballplayers Make Babies
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-when-ballplayers-make-babies

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the new-and-improved FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.

On this episode, Mark Simon is joined by national baseball writer Hannah Keyser and SIS operations analyst Brandon Tew.

Hannah, who formerly wrote for Yahoo Sports, introduced us to her thrice-weekly baseball newsletter, The Bandwagon, which she co-authors with Zach Crizer. She shared what early-season baseball happenings surprised her and 'confirmed her priors.'

Then she played along and guessed at the members of 'The All-Scrapes Team' (or 'The All-Ouch Team') - players who have dove for balls the most over the last 3 seasons. Mark also shared which players are the most effective at diving for balls at each position.

Brandon, who writes regularly for SportsInfoSolutions.com (see his articles on Roki Sasaki and Tomoyuki Sugano), is SIS' resident expert in Japanese baseball pitchers and their performance in the major leagues. He delved into the pitching approaches of Sasaki, Sugano, Shota Imanaga, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And he talked about everyone's new favorite pitch, the kick-change (a variant of a changeup).

Thanks as always for listening. Please check out the new-and-improved FieldingBible.com website, follow us on Bluesky at @sportsinfosolutions.com, and read our work at SportsInfoSolutions.com. You can e-mail us at Mark@sportsinfosolutions.com.