A third of the way through the 2024 season, it’s time to revisit one of last winter’s most interesting subplots: How have the superstars who moved to new positions fared? The most notable of these have been Bryce Harper becoming a full-time first baseman in Philadelphia, or Mookie Betts making an unprecedented switch to shortstop, but they’re not the only ones. There have been many similar transitions.
How have they fared? Let’s take a look.
But first: What is a “new” position? Honestly, it’s a bit arbitrary.
Harper learned the first baseman position live in games last summer, but 2024 was the first time he knew he’d be in the infield. Betts also made a few appearances at shortstop last year, but again, 2024 was his first time strictly as an infielder. Has Aaron Judge played some center field before? Of course he has. But has he played it as often as he has this year? No way.
We’ll skip over many of the corner outfield position swaps—like Judge’s new teammates Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo—and focus on the players who made the more interesting changes.
- Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies First Baseman
There has been a lot of talk about Harper’s willingness and ability to jump to first base immediately last year as he recovered from Tommy John surgery that relegated him to designated hitter, simply because the Phillies needed him to do so. With injured Rhys Hoskins out all year, the first base position had been a problem, and with Harper as designated hitter, they were forced to play Kyle Schwarber in the outfield. The team’s defense suffered as a result, so having Harper at first base put all the pieces in place, and the improvement in defense was noticeable.
Filling a spot temporarily is one thing. Making a permanent move to the position and working on it over the winter is another. So how is he doing? Harper’s +4 average extra outs is second among all first basemen, behind only perennial defensive standout Christian Walker. In fact, given his consistently strong hitting ability, his defensive value, and the down years of some other stars, it’s not a stretch to say that Harper is now the best all-around first baseman in the league (or at least that’s what the WAR stats say).
So, what exactly is he doing right? For one, he’s avoiding errors; he’s missed just four chances that Statcast rates as 90% or higher, and even one of those came when he slipped on a wet pitch in April.
He’s shown the ability to make saves on ground balls from baseball’s fastest players and the ability to make saves on balls from baseball’s toughest left-handed hitters and the very unfamiliar ability as a right-handed outfielder to catch a ground ball, turn right, and throw to second base.
Last year, Phillies infield coach Bobby Dickson said he thought Harper could be a Gold Glove first baseman. Harper might not win the award in 2024 because of Walker, but what we’ve seen suggests that could be a reality soon.
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