‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Kevin Stocker on the infield shuffle, why Trea Turner isn’t an outfielder, and more
The Phillies' pennant-winning shortstop in 1993 joined The Inquirer's baseball podcast to discuss all the moving infield parts after the Luis Arraez trade as well as the one player who stayed put.
In trading for Luis Arraez at the deadline, the Phillies displaced three-fourths of their infield with less than 50 games left in the season.
It was unprecedented.
Kevin Stocker, the Phillies’ pennant-winning shortstop in 1993 and now a member of the radio broadcast team, joined The Inquirer’s Phillies Extra podcast, to share his thoughts on all the moving parts — Bryson Stott to third base, Alec Bohm to first, and Bryce Harper to right field — as well as the one player who stayed put: shortstop Trea Turner.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: What was your reaction when you heard the Phillies were trading for Luis Arraez, and that they were going to uproot three-quarters of the infield with less than 50 games left in the season?
A: I was happy because it was Luis Arraez. I like the kind of player that he is offensively, and very confused, I guess, onto the limitations he kind of put on if he was only going to play second. I got so many feelings about uprooting three guys in the middle of the season. It’s not like it’s new. We’ve seen this before with other guys. I think the most recent maybe Mookie Betts has moved. I remember back in the day, Robin Yount moved out to center because of an injury, but never three guys at once. So I guess if we were to take each spot as it is, for example, Bryson Stott having to move from second to third. I don’t think it’s going to affect Bryson as much, other than the fact ... the middle infield, shortstop, and second base are your main spots that handle most of the baseballs. To me, Bryson Stott is probably the best fielder, definitely on this team. I know he’s not an All-Star. ... He’s the captain of the infield, and now you’re moving him out of there. That was my first concern.
... He’s constantly directing traffic, calling time out. He’s helping the pitcher. You’re going to lose some of that by bumping him over to third base. However, defensively, I think he’ll be fine. He’s played that side of the infield, super strong arm. I don’t worry about him over there at all.
Now you bump Bohm over to first. Now I think Alec has done tremendous things at third as far as making strides. He’s worked his tail off. He’s become pretty comfortable. I wouldn’t say he’s the best third baseman, anything like that. But he’s solid over there. At first base, to me, he’s got a lot to learn. I love the fact that he’s 6-5. If I was a shortstop throwing over there, I would want the tall first baseman. Fred McGriff was over there for me, and I loved that. So it’s going to take him a little while, I think, to kind of get better at first base.
So that is a little bit interesting to me. It’s going to take him awhile. I’m not sure how that’s going to go. I will say that in the same breath, I love that Harper’s going back to right field. ... and here’s why. One, he’s a hitter first. When he’s on that field, he’s thinking about hitting. When he goes to first base to play defense, he’s still thinking about hitting. I’ve played with a lot of guys in my career, and all the hitters were the same. The guy’s in the outfield, I would look out in left field, and I might see a guy out there who’s a hitter, and he’s in between pitches. He’s working on a swing, and I’m like, ‘Hey, man, we got to play defense.’
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The infield demands so much focus all the time, and at first base, Bryce was good. He’s very athletic, but I think there was a lot of balls over there that he wasn’t comfortable maybe helping helping Trea out or helping the infielders out. Not that he was bad. I don’t know that he’s having the greatest year this year, but a couple years ago he was fine. I just think in right field to me, he will be a better hitter, better player, and happier. That’s just me. I haven’t seen him play a lot of right field, and I also think it takes care of the right field problem that the Phillies had. So you get Luis Arraez and people are like, ‘Why didn’t we go get a right fielder?’ Well, the Phillies did. They bumped Bryce out there and now they have one.
Q: What’s your take on leaving Trea Turner at shortstop and moving everyone else around?
A: I never saw Trea play outfield. I saw him play a little bit at second base. That was with the Dodgers for a short period of time, and I don’t think he was comfortable over there. But a lot of people want Trea to go to the outfield. So this is what I would say with that in the outfield. I’ve watched Trea long enough to know now that he is not the most aggressive player defensively. And what I mean by that is, for example, if he’s going back on a popup over his head, it’s pretty ginger when he goes back there. Whereas Bryson Stott just goes ... running back. Trea doesn’t play that way. He’s a little bit more cautious.
» READ MORE: Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.
So now everybody wants him to go to center. You do not want a cautious center fielder. That’ll totally mess up the corners. Now you got [Brandon] Marsh, and you got Harp over here. I’ve talked to [infield coach] Bobby [Dickerson] about this a lot. He’s worked so hard at shortstop. He’s not having that great year that he had last year, a much better year. I just don’t know if he’s better anywhere else on the field. And if you asked me to disrupt three guys, Turner would be the last one I would want to disrupt right now because that would just create a lot more problems in his head. And he’s starting to hit.
The other thing about Trea, he is just like Harper. He is a hitter first, defense second. When I played, I was defense all the way. I think Stott is defense first, and then kind of mixes in the offense. So as a hitter-first guy, you’re going to get some years that are good. You’re going to get some years that he struggles, and it’s been a challenge there. But I just don’t think it would have been a wise move for me to move him. I just think that would have created more problems in his head.
Q: How was shortstop different for you when you were 24, 25, vs. when you were 30? How does it get harder as you get a little older?
A: Well, there’s there’s a couple of things. The most direct thing that gets tougher, whether you’re 30 or 33, you start to, I don’t want to say lose a step, but I needed to go out and take ground balls at full speed on Sunday morning when I did not want anything to do with that. I didn’t want to go take ground balls or BP. When I was younger, I was so jazzed. I was like, ‘I’m going to go to the park, and I would go get Bowa and say, ‘Let’s go take ground balls.’ ... As you get older, you start to lose that edge. You start having to go out. ... you’re just not getting in the same work, and so then what happens is you’re not quite playing ... I call it playing on the edge. That’s where you want to be. So that’s one thing.
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And then you just don’t recover as quickly. You just don’t. Like that dive [Turner] had the other day, it was very jarring. When you lay out and you land on your chest, it is a huge jarring. ... that stuff gets tougher to recover from the next day. You’re rolling out of bed, like I got hit by a truck. So the amount of work — that’s why I admire Edmundo Sosa, who has all these positions. He’s out there every day. He has to in order to keep the legs and the body moving.
But I do remember that last year. I think I was even in camp with the Rockies. It was right before I retired, and I went out and played a little bit of shortstop. And I’m like, I’m not moving as fast as the other guy that’s 25, 26 to my left and right. So that’s that’s one of the things I think is just keeping the edge to go out there and make sure you get the right amount of work in. I really admire the fact that Trea, at his age at 33, and the amount of time he’s played, hasn’t really lost a step. I don’t think he has. Sprinting and running. I think he’s guarded as times, like he’s not running full speed all the time, but I don’t know if he has to.
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