THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Sounds like he, like Bannister, is using all the tools available to maximize his value as a player.

Exactly what I was thinking. I’d like to see the scouting report on Jack Wilson when he was drafted.

If he was positioning his defense shouldn’t he rate better under WOWY than UZR?

I would hope all major league shortstops and second basemen do this.  I did it when I played SS when I was 14 years old.  If a decent (RH)hitter was up I’d shade to the hole (SS) on the off speed stuff and shade to the middle on the fastball.  On the weaker hitters I’d usually play straight away or a step towards the middle.  On top of that you can further adjust from where the catcher is setup.  There is almost a “feel” to it once you get to know the pitchers and hitters tendancies a little bit.
vr, Xei

Sounds like Jack will make a fine manager or coach once he’s done playing.

Would it be fair to say that such a player would age better?

For example, we know that walk rates for hitters increase by age, and for pitchers it decreases by age.  They basically get smarter, or realize how to play better.

Could it be that someone who might be smart like Wilson can take advantage better in his older years than someone else?  Or, is it the opposite, that he’s already maxed out, and someone who is not too smart can eventually learn to maximize his abilities?