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A couple years ago, I wrote an article about Amed Rosario. Rosario was just coming off the best season of his career, a 3.1-WAR 2022 campaign in which he’d posted a 104 wRC+ and manned shortstop for the Guardians. He’d led the majors with nine triples, but I was interested in another category where he’d not only led the league but also left everyone else in his dust. Statcast credited Rosario with 369 competitive runs. That was nearly 70 more than any other player in 2022, and it’s still the highest single-season total ever recorded.

As there’s no reason for you to remember what a competitive run is, let’s start with a refresher. In order for Statcast to do a good job of measuring a player’s average sprint speed, it needs to pick the right plays, when they’ll be running hard and reaching their maximum speed. If you hit a routine groundout to the shortstop and run down the baseline at a businesslike 80%, that’s not really a reflection of your top speed. You’re not running competitively. Statcast only assesses sprint speed on plays where a batter is running to first after a “topped” or “weakly hit” ball, or plays where they run two or more bases (except when they score from second on an extra-base hit). Those are competitive runs, and I’m going to quote from my old article to explain why I think they’re worth writing about:

I don’t know about you, but I think this is incredibly fun. Competitive runs is an incidental statistic. It’s just scaffolding for another stat, but there’s one person who plays baseball like competitive runs is his own personal pinball machine. The other reason I love it is that even though competitive runs exists only to serve a higher master, it’s still a descriptive stat in its own right. A player’s competitive runs total tells you plenty about the way they play the game.

In order to lead the league in competitive runs, you need to put the ball in play a lot, which means no striking out and, to a lesser extent, limited walking. You need to hit the ball weakly and on the ground, but you also need to reach base a lot so that you can make all those first-to-thirds and second-to-homes. Your offensive game needs to revolve around speed and ground-based contact. I’ve left out one other prerequisite, but already, it’s starting to sound like I’m describing one player in particular, right?

A month ago, I broke down Chandler Simpson’s swing in some detail, because it is truly unique. There is no one else who hits like Simpson. He’s got the fastest home-to-first time in baseball, and his swing is designed specifically to put the ball in play on the ground. He puts less of his body into his swing than anyone else, which obliterates his power but makes his swing supremely adjustable. Because he swings so slowly and has one of the flattest hacks in baseball, his bat stays in the hitting zone and on plane with the baseball forever. It’s the reason he can put up the third-highest contact rate in baseball and the reason he never hits it in the air. Some players come to the plate focused on putting the ball in the air. More think about hitting a line drive. Simpson is explicitly thinking “low line drive, hard groundballs.”

Simpson has spent the playoffs showing a national audience what he’s capable of: laying down picture perfect bunts, stealing bags, running down fly balls, and forcing opposing infielders to hurry themselves into errors. Even more than Rosario’s in 2022, Simpson’s game seems like it was designed in a lab to maximize competitive runs. His entire approach is focused on giving him opportunities to showcase his legs, and he’s been so successful at it that he led the AL in steals and came close to winning a batting title. It should come as no surprise that he led baseball with 359 competitive runs this season. But earlier I mentioned that I’d intentionally omitted one of the prerequisites for leading the league in competitive runs. It’s the reason that Rosario still holds the single-season record rather than Simpson. Here’s the single-season leaderboard for competitive runs.

Simpson ranks fourth, even though everyone else on the list got way more plate appearances than he did. The prerequisite I left out is that you need to be a good enough hitter (or play on a bad enough team) to play everyday and hit at the very top of the lineup. Competitive runs is a counting stat, after all. All of the other players on this list spent at least a plurality of their time batting first or second. Simpson made a plurality of his plate appearances in the five hole, and he spent nearly as much time batting sixth as he did in the leadoff spot. That has cost him a significant number of plate appearances. The meritocratic tyranny of the batting order is very real. Awhile back I calculated that even if they never got pinch-hit for, it would take an average nine-hole hitter 26 more games than the leadoff hitter to qualify for the batting title. That’s why the nerds have succeeded in getting nearly every team to move its best hitter into the two-hole.

To be clear, Simpson isn’t blameless here. The Rays sometimes sit him when facing lefties because he has just a 76 wRC+ against them across his two years in the majors. He ran an overall wRC+ of 93 this season. If he’d been at 104, as Rosario was in 2022, he likely would’ve spent the whole season batting leadoff. Because the Rays had one of the league’s better offenses, he would’ve gotten up over 700 plate appearances, and he would’ve outrun the competitive run competition. If we turn competitive runs into a rate stat, Simpson would be first on that list rather than fourth. He averaged 0.59 competitive runs per plate appearance. When he comes to the plate, there’s a nearly 60% chance that you’ll get to see him running full tilt.

The good news is that Simpson is still in just his second year in the majors. We can’t guarantee that he’ll continue to improve at the plate, but he’s 25 and has plenty of time to keep developing. As Baseball America’s JJ Cooper has noted, Simpson wasn’t just going for a batting title this year; he was trying to become the first player ever to win one in college, the minors, and the majors. Because his speed adds so much value to his overall offensive profile, he wouldn’t need to improve all that much at the plate to have an undeniable case as Tampa’s everyday leadoff man. Simpson just notched the fourth-highest competitive runs total ever recorded while spending most of his time batting fifth and sixth. If he does ever spend a whole season in the leadoff spot, he’s going to blow the doors off Rosario and everybody else on that list.

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Caleb Bonemer produced a plethora of power in 2026. Splitting the season between High-A Winston Salem and Double-A Birmingham, the 21-year-old (as of earlier this month) slugger slammed 37 round-trippers while logging a .251/.380/.550 slash line over 595 plate appearances. His home run total was tops in the Chicago White Sox organization, as was his 139 wRC+.

Bonemer has continued to punish pitchers in the Arizona Fall League — his desert ledger includes four doubles, a triple, and a pair of dingers among his 11 hits in 39 at-bats — but his right-handed stroke isn’t why he is suiting up for the Glendale Desert Dogs. Positioned almost exclusively on the left side of the infield since being selected in the second round of the 2024 draft out of an Okemos, Michigan high school, Bonemer is being given a look in the outfield. I asked him about the move off of the diamond on AFL Media Day.

“I’m getting a lot of questions about that,” replied Bonemer, whose positional tryout has since comprised six games in center field, two in left field, and one in right field, this after playing just nine professional games on the grass previously. “The White Sox told me they want to see what I can do out there. I haven’t really played the outfield, so they want me to get more reps, more games under my belt.”

Regardless of where he ultimately ends up playing, his ability to belt baseballs is what has him bound for Chicago’s South Side. Currently ranked 95th on The Board and second in the White Sox system as a 50-FV prospect, Bonemer has been described by James Fegan as a hitter who produces high-end exit velocities, with an affinity for elevating balls to the pull side.

Brendan Gawlowski’s recent AFL position player scouting notebook also bears noting. His look largely echoes James’ earlier reports.

“Bonemer’s swing doesn’t light me up,” Brendan wrote. “His hands fire from a dead stop, and his swing path is long and stiff. But while it isn’t pretty, he squares the ball up an awful lot, hitting three balls 104 mph or harder across the few games I watched him. He could have plus-plus raw at maturity, and even if he winds up being a flawed hitter, he has enough power and barrel feel to be dangerous.”

Aware of previous reports that referred to his swing mechanics as being atypical, I did my due diligence and solicited the promising youngster’s opinion. Does he agree? Moreover, does it really matter?

“A lot of people have said that I’m kind of robotic — I guess that would be the term — but I’ve always kind of had what you’d call a stiffer setup,” Bonemer responded. “I’ve always been a stiffer mover. I’ve never had a big rhythmic or loose swing. What I’ve had is a style that is kind of still and simple. At the same time, I’m always looking to get better. I’ve worked with different people, different coaches, to where I’m kind of melding what I’ve learned into the load and swing that I naturally have.”

“I’ve definitely made some adjustments from when I initially signed to now,” he went on to say. “But really, I think the biggest thing is that I’m just bigger and stronger. That has helped me a lot with the power numbers this year. Mechanically, the changes have been pretty small. In a lot of ways, I still am who I am.”

Based on his ability to propel baseballs over the outfield fences — you don’t go deep 37 times by accident — Bonemer profiles as a power hitter. I asked him for his opinion on that as well.

“Am I a power hitter? Going off of this year, yeah,” agreed Bonemer, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds. “Growing up, I was more of… not a contact guy, but more of an all-around type of hitter. But now, I’m more of a power guy. So yes, I would say that I’m a power hitter.”

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Our Member community is made up of thousands of incredibly knowledgable baseball fans, and we think this is a great way to follow a game with like-minded baseball enthusiasts. We might even have some FanGraphs Staff drop in and join the fun. Please be courteous to your fellow Members, or you may find your chat privileges revoked.

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Major League Strategy Fellow

Major League Strategy Fellow

Job Summary:
This role will support the St. Louis Cardinals Major League team through baseball research, statistical analysis, strategic modeling, and the development of analytical tools and reports. Working closely with the Manager of Major League Strategy, this position will help identify opportunities to improve baseball decision-making, evaluate existing strategies, and develop new analytical capabilities supporting the Major League club. This role will collaborate with Major League Strategy personnel, coaches, and Baseball Development staff to translate research and data into practical baseball applications. The position will be based primarily in St. Louis and will be expected to work on the Major League team’s schedule throughout the season, including Spring Training, evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed.

Job Duties:

• Conduct baseball research and statistical analysis to support Major League game preparation, in-game strategy, player evaluation, and broader baseball decision-making
• Develop, maintain, and improve analytical models and tools that inform Major League game strategy and baseball operations
• Work with the Manager of Major League Strategy to identify, prioritize, and investigate research questions with potential Major League applications
• Analyze player and team performance trends to identify actionable insights, evaluate strategic opportunities, and support continuous improvement
• Develop and improve automated reports, data visualizations, and analytical applications that support Major League coaches, players, and staff
• Collaborate with Major League Strategy personnel to integrate analytical findings into advance scouting, game preparation, and player support workflows
• Design and conduct rigorous analyses to evaluate baseball strategies, validate analytical models, and assess the effectiveness of implemented initiatives
• Collaborate with Baseball Development and other baseball operations personnel on research, modeling, technology, and analytical initiatives supporting the Major League club
• Learn and operate certain baseball technology and video systems as necessary

Experience Required:

• Strong analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills, with the ability to independently investigate complex baseball questions
• Proficiency in SQL and at least one analytical programming language, such as Python or R, with experience developing reproducible analyses and statistical models
• Strong understanding of statistical inference, model validation, and the limitations of observational baseball data
• Experience with statistical analysis, predictive modeling, and research methodology
• Strong ability to communicate clearly and concisely in written, verbal, and visual formats
• Ability to translate complex analytical findings into practical recommendations for baseball decisionmakers
• Strong understanding of baseball decision-making and the ability to frame baseball questions as rigorous analytical problems
• Experience working with modern baseball data, including ball-tracking and player-tracking information
• Ability to develop clear, accessible data visualizations, reports, and analytical tools
• Strong attention to detail, intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, and a willingness to challenge and refine existing assumptions
• Ability to manage independent research projects while responding effectively to time-sensitive Major League requests
• Ability to collaborate productively with coaches, analysts, and baseball operations personnel
• Ability to handle sensitive baseball information with professionalism and confidentiality
• Experience conducting original baseball research or developing statistical models is preferred
• Experience developing analytical applications, automated reporting systems, or decision-support tools is preferred
• Familiarity with machine learning, optimization, and advanced statistical methods is preferred
• Experience in professional or collegiate baseball operations, research, or analytics is a plus

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the St. Louis Cardinals.

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For the third consecutive year, I voted for the Fielding Bible Awards, Sports Info Solutions’ annual recognition of the best defenders in major league baseball. They’re a Gold Glove equivalent for the majors as a whole, created by SIS and John Dewan in 2006. A panel of video scouts and baseball experts vote for five players at each spot; there are also awards for the best multi-position defender, the defensive player of the year, and the defensive team of the year. The awards will be released this Thursday, October 22, and this article will be updated to note the winners once they’re announced.

Voting for any award is a prestigious honor, and voting on this panel has great personal import to me. Over the years, the panelists have included basically every writer who got me into baseball statistics when I was younger. Bill James, Peter Gammons, the founder of Strat-o-Matic – you get the idea. It’s a group I’m honored to be a part of, and I take my voting responsibilities very seriously. To that end, I spent some time this year updating my previous voting methods. Let me walk you through it.

Earlier this year, MLB Senior Data Architect Tom Tango did some work on blending multiple defensive systems together. I had actually landed on a similar method after discussing my inaugural ballot with Tom two years ago, but there’s never a bad time for a refresh. I started with Tom’s approach, added in Baseball Prospectus’ DRP as an additional number, and created blends for each position group based on how well each metric tracked itself year-to-year, as well as how well it predicted other metrics from one year to the next. Of note, I moved around my infield weights a bit, increasing the importance of DRS; it has narrowly been the best metric in the post-shift-ban world, a change in defensive rules meaningful enough for me to strongly prefer sampling from it for my initial rankings.

That blended rank gave me an preliminary order for each position. From there, I used my own expertise and judgment to move players up or down the list. I tried to have a light touch here; regardless of what vibes or the eye test say, I’m not putting Jose Altuve on my second base ballot when the models say he’s the worst defensive second baseman in the league, though admittedly he was also pretty bad by the eye test. I considered past defensive value because single-season defensive statistics are noisy, but I only used that as a tiebreaker; I’m voting for the players who played the best defense this year, not the players who have been the best recently.

As I note every year, I think this process does a good job of combining the best information that publicly available defensive systems can produce with a critical, evidence-focused eye on the game. I watch a ton of baseball, and I also spend quite a bit of time thinking about both how to measure player skill and the limits of doing so. I’m just talking my own book here, but I really do believe this is the best way I can determine who played the best defense in the majors this season. So without further ado, let’s look at my infield ballot.

Catcher
1. Dillon Dingler
2. Joe Mack
3. Brandon Valenzuela
4. Luis Torrens
5. Adley Rutschman

A tip of the cap to Patrick Bailey, who I voted for in both previous editions of this award, but he wasn’t one of the best defensive catchers in baseball this year. Dingler was the clear top guy for me, and the models thought so too. He was head and shoulders above the field statistically, and watching him play is basically an instruction manual for good fundamental defense. He’s a wonderful blocker and also controls the running game well thanks to a huge throwing arm. He’s mastered the new-school art of tailing his throws towards first base to give fielders a good tagging lane. How afraid of Dingler are opposing baserunners? They ran on him about as many times in 995 innings as they ran on his backups in 400 fewer innings of work. Oh, and he was the best receiver in baseball this year for good measure. Does that sound like something you might be interested in?

Mack was a pleasant surprise for me this season. I didn’t know a lot about him before his debut, but he put on a show throwing down to second base; he led baseball in the number of runners he threw out while stealing despite only playing 783 innings behind the plate. He threw them out at a high rate, too, despite some lackluster work holding runners on by the Marlins pitching staff. Mack also blocks and receives well – there are a lot of good defensive catchers these days – but his command of the running game is the skill that earned him my vote here. Valenzuela was nearly as good throwing despite similarly little help from his pitchers, and he was a great receiver to boot. But he looks awkward blocking balls in the dirt at times, which pushed him behind the two well-rounded catchers at the top of the list.

Finally, Torrens and Rutschman are squarely behind that top trio for me, but they both deserve some recognition for having very solid defensive seasons. Torrens has been great for a few years now, while Rutschman bounced back after a few lackluster seasons behind the plate, but both of them are good across the board. They’re each in the top 10 of Statcast’s blocking, throwing, and receiving leaderboards, which shows off their well-rounded game, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see one of them win the award next year because they don’t have many holes in their game.

First Base
1. Matt Olson
2. Ty France
3. Christian Walker
4. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
5. TJ Rumfield

This was a two-way race at the top for me, and I went back and forth for a while before settling on Olson. He’s a prototypical first baseman – huge, rangy, surehanded, and even bats lefty, if you’re into that kind of thing. He also plays a ton of innings. He’s the platonic ideal of a first baseman, in other words, and he played up to his usual standard this year. The systems love him. The eye test loves him. I clearly love him – I had him first last year as well.

This year, though, I at least had to think about it. France was a worthy contender for the top spot. For the second season in a row, he’s been stellar at first, and despite being short for the position, he’s one of the best in the game at scooping errant throws. He’s also incredibly rangy, and he made a lot of good plays charging bunts and weakly-hit balls this year. Spectacular work from a guy whose defense was once a weakness.

Walker’s best defensive days might be behind him, but a decline from his formidable peak still leaves him as one of the best in the business. I went back and forth on putting Guerrero on here because this is the first year he’s graded out as a good defender and the eye test is mixed, but this was about as low as I felt I could put him given the numbers. Finally, Rumfield is another entry in the hulking and rangy first baseman category, and I really enjoyed watching him corral errant throws, particularly high ones, from the left side of the infield all year.

Second Base
1. Brice Turang
2. JJ Wetherholt
3. Brandon Lowe
4. Nasim Nuñez
5. Nico Hoerner

Second base is stacked at the moment. Four of the five guys on this list would be above-average shortstops, though I think they’re even better suited for the keystone. Turang is the poster boy for this; his throwing arm is unremarkable at second base and might be a little light for shortstop, but that just doesn’t matter much given the way he’s deployed. He’s comically rangy, combining a great first step with blistering acceleration that makes it seem like he knew where the ball was going before the bat did. He’s particularly good charging to his left and making off-platform throws to first, but honestly, he’s just good at everything. I would have put him in the top spot even if my blended leaderboard didn’t have him first, but it does; per the computers, he’s first by a fair margin.

Wetherholt was a clear second for me. Most of what I said about Turang is true of him as well. He briefly shifted over to short when Masyn Winn was injured, but he’s better suited for second, where his range and instincts combine to make up for middling arm strength. I’d suggest watching him play if you haven’t. It’s smooth, soothing almost; he’s never in a hurry, but he’s always on time, regardless of where he needs to end up. He’s particularly adept at plays where he loses sight of first base and has to re-establish it before throwing; that’s a tough play for most second basemen, but he seems to have eyes in the back of his head at times.

I watched more clips of Lowe’s fielding than any other player on the ballot because I considered him a poor defender for most of his tenure in Tampa Bay. But the tape says the same thing as all three of the systems I used: At least in 2026, he was just great. I couldn’t perceive his limited range very much, because he was making tough plays in all directions regularly. Could a bunny hop really make all that difference? I’m skeptical, but it sure seems to have helped a lot, and perhaps Lowe just needed a little more range to make his sure hands sing. It’s a good reminder that the Rays don’t have a monopoly on helping players improve; they’re famous for their development, but sometimes a guy just needs to hear new voices. Finally, Nuñez and Hoerner are conventionally great, and I’ll have more on Nuñez in part two of this ballot. If you like watching elite defenders, check those two out. Hoerner won this award last year and could easily do so next year; the competition is just very tough at the moment.

Shortstop
1. Masyn Winn
2. Taylor Walls
3. Bobby Witt Jr.
4. Geraldo Perdomo
5. Dansby Swanson

I’m quite confident that I don’t have any team bias in my evaluation of baseball, but I’ll readily admit that I have a bias towards shortstops with cannon arms, a byproduct of watching reels of Andrelton Simmons highlights when I was younger. Winn is Simmons’ spiritual successor; he might not have the ridiculous range and seeming precognition that Simmons showed at his best, but he too warps the way shortstop defense works, because timing changes when you can throw this hard. Plays that just aren’t possible for most shortstops open up for Winn. His internal clock can run a little slower than everyone else’s because the force of his throws shaves fractions of a second off of the time between when he releases the ball and the first baseman catches it. It shows up in his ability to charge and gather before throwing on weakly hit balls, and also in his ability to turn double plays; the Cardinals get plenty of extra outs every year because Winn just muscles the ball over so much faster than every other shortstop.

Walls has a polarizing case, and it’s one that drives home the importance of getting multiple perspectives. DRS thinks he’s the best shortstop in the game by some distance. DRP thinks he’s the best by a hair. FRV thinks he’s below average. I come down closer to “he’s elite,” and I think there’s something interesting in the FRV numbers. Walls converts chances into outs at a higher rate than any other shortstop in baseball. But FRV also thinks he has the easiest chances in baseball, which is why they have him as basically average. I guess I’m just willing to give him more credit for “converts the most chances” even though it’s definitely true that not all plays are created equal. In any case, the reason I collect and blend a ton of metrics is because they won’t always agree, and in my raw rankings, Walls was a hair behind Winn and solidly ahead of Witt in third. Speaking of, Witt is obviously great too, in a way that I imagine I don’t need to explain too much; he’s fast, smart, and strong-armed.

Perdomo and Swanson are longtime good defenders who both had good seasons this year, but they aren’t capable of the same incandescent brilliance as that top trio. I also considered Andrés Giménez, Otto Lopez, and Mookie Betts for this spot; they’re all in the same tier as Perdomo and Swanson for me. I’d be happy to have any of them as my shortstop, and I bet they’d all contend for the top spot if they shifted down to second base, but right now, the three W’s of Winn, Walls, and Witt are head and shoulders above the rest.

Third Base
1. Matt Chapman
2. Alex Bregman
3. Caleb Durbin
4. Maikel Garcia
5. Brooks Lee

I might be the only person with Chapman in first place on my ballot, because he only played roughly half a season this year. But what a magnificent half season it was! Chapman is one of the greatest third base defenders of the 21st century, and he played like it when he was on the field this year. I wouldn’t exactly call Chapman a graceful defender, but he uses his physical talents to the utmost. He has a big arm and he’s very quick, which means he gets to the ball quickly and recovers well even if he can’t field it instantly and cleanly. To be fair, he does usually field it instantly and cleanly – he just can get outs even if things go wrong. That kind of burly defense had him first in DRS this year despite a huge innings deficit on the rest of the leaders, and in terms of per-inning value, he was head and shoulders above the rest of the field, a defensive titan limited to fewer innings than normal.

I was impressed enough by Chapman’s form to rank him first despite his paltry innings total, but Bregman and Durbin were great in their own right. They’re actually very similar defenders, and I expect one of the two of them to win the award this year. They have relatively modest throwing arms for third, but they’re elite all-around defenders who simply play themselves into positions where they have enough strength for their throws. It’s no coincidence that both of them are capable of playing other infield spots. All three defensive systems love them both; in fact, by my blend, the top three fielders here were in a statistical tie for first place, and I would hardly blame anyone for voting for Bregman or Durbin.

Garcia got my fourth place vote for turning in a lesser version of Chapman’s season. He’s inarguably elite, and a strong contender for this award in every full season he plays, but he missed half of the 2026 season, which left him short on counting stats. He’s a great defender, but he didn’t blow me away like Chapman did, hence his lower placement. Lee excelled after the Twins slid him over from shortstop. He struggled moving to his right and throwing against the grain, but that’s not really an issue at third. He looks much better to me when the play is in front of him, and he made a ton of tough charging plays in addition to showing great range when leaving his feet, a skill that’s most important at third. I’m extremely excited to see how he does next year with a whole offseason of practice at a spot where he already looks solid.

Later this week, I’ll go through my outfielder, pitcher, multi-positional defender, defensive player of the year, and defensive team of the year votes. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the first half of my ballot as much as I enjoyed filling it out.

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