Phillies defensive gamble continues to pay dividends amid Bryson Stott's mind-boggling pace

The Philadelphia Phillies made bold changes in order to make Luis Arraez feel at home. Many thought it was a perilous move for an already defensively-challenged team. One of the big problems seemed to be taking one of the club's few plus defenders, Bryson Stott, off his natural second base spot and moving him to the hot corner.

Well, we've already seen the move pay off to a degree, as Bryce Harper's glove is more easily hidden in right field, but now we're seeing Stott kick it into overdrive at third base. The 28-year-old showed out over the weekend, and his highlight reel plays at third base helped Philadelphia sweep the Los Angeles Angels and keep the hot streak going.

That underscores the fact that Stott hasn't just held his own at his new position; he's excelled at it. So far, he's recorded four outs above average in just 194 innings. That has him tied for third among all big league third basemen (minimum 190 innings). The trio of Manny Machado, Alex Bregman, and Joey Ortiz leads the way with six OAA.

Of all the players in the top 10, Stott is the only player to log fewer than 491 innings. That's what makes his performance all the more striking. If we extrapolate his performance over a full season's workload, which conservatively would be about 1,100 innings, Stott would post 22.68 OAA. We'll round that up and call it 23, which is mind-bogglingly good. For reference, Ke'Bryan Hayes, a player who is only in the majors because of his glove, recorded 22 OAA last season.

Bryson Stott's defensive performance at third is huge for the Phillies as they look to make a deep playoff run

Overall, the Phillies' defense has improved statistically since the trade deadline. The club welcomed Arraez with a 21st-ranked -12 OAA through August 3. Since then, they've moved up two spots in the rankings to 19th with -10 OAA. Stott is the primary reason for that.

If no one else improves at their new positions, Philadelphia's defense will still be more stout thanks to Stott's exceptional glove work. You'd like to see others come around as well, but it's hard to complain about any improvement.

It also seems as if it has Stott flying and riding a wave of confidence that has carried over to the plate. Since the trade deadline, he's hitting .286/.400/.393, which is good for a 124 wRC+. He was also robbed of a homer by an incredible play by Wade Meckler in Anaheim. He's not alone; Harper and Alec Bohm have been red hot, too.

Everyone seems more than comfortable with their new assignments, and that's a good thing. Sometimes these jarring changes can cause slumps and throw off a team's momentum, but for the Phillies, it seems as if the opposite is happening.

A lot of that is driven by Stott, who is playing Gold Glove caliber defense at the hot corner. He's showing how important he is to Philadelphia's operation, and thankfully, he survived an injury scare last week with no ill effects. That's a good thing, because he's shaping up to be an even more valuable cog than originally thought within the Phillies' machine.

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