Rich Hill, the Home Run Record, and the Evolution of Position Playing (Ep. 103)

The Ringer’s Ben Lindbergh and Michael Baumann banter about Rich Hill’s brilliant, heartbreaking, nine-no-hit-inning loss (0:35), Giancarlo Stanton’s comments about the single-season home run record (6:10), and why every record comes with caveats (8:10). Then, they talk to Baseball Prospectus writer Russell Carleton about how teams are abandoning traditional defensive alignments (12:40), why it’s becoming more common for players to play multiple positions (23:40), and whether techniques such as the four-man outfield, the Waxahachie Swap, and swapping corner defenders based on batter handedness make strategic sense (33:25). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices