The Future of Baseball is... Chris Taylor? (Yes, Really)

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There’s a revolution happening in Major League Baseball. From the early years of the sport to the modern day, utility players have been an essential part of the game. Nowadays, however, a new kind of player has burst onto the scene. Unlike guys like Luis Sojo, these so-called “super-utility” players are making highlight reel plays and putting up All Star numbers at multiple positions around the field. Players who formerly occupied only one position are now manning two, or sometimes even three. And from the college baseball level to the minor leagues, MLB clubs have been conditioning their top prospects to play two or more positions with increasing frequency.

In this video, I’ll be talkin’ about how the New York Yankees misused Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, how Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays helped transform Ben Zobrist into an All Star, and how the Los Angeles Dodgers – with the help of players like Kiké Hernández, Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, and, yes, Chris Taylor – are one of the many MLB teams at the forefront of the super-utility revolution.

(And of course, there’s a little Shohei Ohtani thrown in there for good measure.)
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BUSINESS INQUIRIES
[email protected]
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @BaseballHSTRN
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SOURCES
Baseball Reference
Fangraphs
Versatile Infielders Are Baseball's Secret Weapon - FiveThirtyEight
Ode to the Properly-Rated: Ben Zobrist Edition - FiveThirtyEight
Positional Versatility and the Zobrist Fallacy - Fangraphs
Ben Zobrist timeline: From his early path to the majors to winning World Series MVP to his leave of absence — and return — to the Cubs – Chicago Tribune
Masters of Some: The Rise of Superutility MLB Players - The Ringer
The 2018 Dodgers Are the Most Positionally Fluid Team of All Time - The Ringer
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MUSIC
"Carved From Stone" - TrackTribe
"Duck In The Alley" - TrackTribe
"Get Tough" - TrackTribe
"Heavy Hideout" - TrackTribe
"SeaTac" - TrackTribe
"To the Sun and Back" - TrackTribe
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00​ - 2:03 Introduction
2:04 - 5:07 Jeter? I Hardly Know 'Er
5:08 - 9:01 Maddonball
9:02 - 12:00 What Makes a Super-Utility Player?
12:01 - 16:22 Everybody Loves Chris
16:23 - 17:53 LMNT
17:54 - 18:08 End