The Phillies’ defense has improved with their shuffled infield. And it starts with Bryson Stott.

No matter where he is on the infield, Bryson Stott is only thinking about one thing.

It could be second base, where he started the season, or third, where he’s been playing since the trade deadline. But even back in college and the minor leagues, when Stott was primarily a shortstop, he was only focused on catching and throwing.

“Still an infielder, still on the dirt,” Stott said. “So, just catching and throwing it.”

Maybe that’s what made his transition to the other side of the diamond so seamless after the arrival of Luis Arraez. There was no mindset shift. He didn’t even change gloves. And in 41 attempts at third base, Stott has a 85% success rate, which is 7% higher than the expected success rate on those plays.

» READ MORE: Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott address how Luis Arraez helped save the Phillies’ offense

“He’s the best,” Arraez said. “He can do everything. He’s one of the best gloves we have.”

He has recorded plus-3 defensive runs saved and plus-3 outs above average at the position.

If fielders could earn a save, Stott would have shared some of the credit alongside Brooks Raley on Tuesday against the Marlins. With the lefty on the mound in the ninth with closer Jhoan Duran unavailable, Stott made two diving plays to bookend the inning.

Stops like those weren’t exactly unusual to see from Stott when he played second, but the longer throw across the diamond after getting back to his feet made them all the more impressive.

“If it worked like that, yeah,” said Alec Bohm said of Stott getting a save. “But he’s doing great over there. It’s been fun to watch.”

There were a lot of initial questions surrounding the Phillies’ post-deadline defensive shuffle. It was certainly a risk to ask three-quarters of the infield to change positions on the fly, especially when they collectively ranked near the bottom of the league in many defensive categories already.

But interim manager Don Mattingly thinks the current defensive alignment with Bohm at first, Arraez at second, Trea Turner at short, Stott at third, and Bryce Harper moving to right, is the strongest one they’ve had all season.

» READ MORE: Trea Turner uses Bryson Stott’s extra glove to help solve his fielding woes: ‘It’s a lot longer’

“I felt like that right away, and I know there was a lot of talk about it, but I felt right away that we were going to be probably better defensively,” Mattingly said. “And we’re a lot more versatile from what we can do during the course of the game.

“Again, I know it’s a lot of moving pieces, and people question what guys can do, but like I think we knew that Bryson had played third. Bohmer, I’ve seen him enough at first. Bryce has played the outfield. I feel like we’re better like this.”

To be clear, it was a low bar. For the first four months of the season before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Phillies defenders had a minus-13 fielding run value, a StatCast metric that attempts to measure how many runs a team has been cost or saved due to its defense.

But since Aug. 3, they have a plus-four FRV.

There are a lot of contributing factors to their success. Bohm made a handful of early errors at first base soon after the switch. But in general, Mattingly — who knows a thing or two about playing first — thinks that the larger target Bohm provides with his 6-foot-4 frame helps the rest of the infield when they’re throwing to him.

Arraez has continued the defensive resurgence that he began in San Francisco earlier this season. In previous stops, defense had never really been his calling card. With the Padres from 2024-25, he was moved to first base and designated hitter.

» READ MORE: Alec Bohm, Philly’s latest scapegoat, nears the end of his run as a Phillie. Appreciate him.

Part of the reason Arraez signed with the Giants in the first place last winter was because they gave him an opportunity to return to second base. And after working with the Giants’ highly-regarded infield coach Ron Washington, Arraez has posted a plus-9 FRV at second this year.

He has taken to working with Phillies infield coach Bobby Dickerson just as well. Arraez heard glowing reports of Dickerson’s work from both Washington and his former San Diego teammate Manny Machado, who has known Dickerson since he was 16.

“Really good energy, beautiful energy that he brings,” Arraez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “And we’re lucky to have him.”

Turner, who has been the Phillies’ worst fielder this season with 18 errors at shortstop, has also shown improvement. None of those errors have come since the rest of the infield was rearranged around him, and in that span he has also posted a plus-2 FRV.

He’s been making his own adjustments, from working on not setting up too early on grounders to recently trying out a longer glove that he actually borrowed from Stott. But underpinning it all is Stott himself. His range at the position helps cover some balls in the six-hole that Bohm might have ceded to Turner.

“Stott plays a little bit different third base than Bohmer,” Turner said. “And I feel like in the last like week, Stott’s gotten a couple balls where I thought I was getting them, and you know maybe Bohmer would have let me get them, and then Stott’s made the play.”

» READ MORE: Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month

Communication has been key with it all, Turner said, both with those plays and with Arraez, now that he has a new double play partner. He learned quickly that Arraez’s feeds to second are a little harder than Stott’s, and has adjusted to that.

“We do enough ground balls that I feel like we got them pretty fast,” Turner said.

This rearrangement is intended to be temporary. Arraez was brought in as a rental on an expiring deal, and Bohm is also a pending free agent. Harper expects to return to first base next season, and when he does, the rest of the infield could look completely different once again.

Stott, who will be 29 in October, is under club control through 2027, and the versatility he’s showing now could give the Phillies flexibility when they shape next year’s infield. When Arraez arrived, Stott said it didn’t matter to him where he’s playing, he just goes where he’s told.

“I wasn’t really worried about him at all,” Mattingly said, “but he’s been really, really good. I’d say he’s probably better than anyone should expect, for a guy that hadn’t been over there that much.”

Because no matter what position he’s playing, this year or in the future, Stott is just going to be worried about one thing: catching the ball and throwing it.

The Phillies claimed right-handed pitcher Andrew Hoffmann off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks and optioned him to triple-A Lehigh Valley. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Felix Reyes was recalled and placed on the 60-day injured list with a right wrist fracture. In eight major league games this season as a reliever, Hoffmann, 26, had a 7.71 ERA.

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Tony Gwynn Jr. is a former major league outfielder and son of late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Over the last two years, he got to know new Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez, whose contact skills at the plate often draw comparisons to Gwynn. Tony Jr. joined Phillies Extra to discuss his father, Arraez, and the bonds that connect them. Watch here.

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Previous episodes: Kevin Stocker | Bobby Dickerson | Jim Bowden | John Middleton | Ryan Howard | Dan Baker | Ricky Bottalico | Preston Mattingly | Caleb Cotham | Larry Bowa