JUPITER, Fla. • One of the game’s greatest ever with a glove has watched a dramatic shift in how team’s play defense and has one word to describe it.
“You know that, to me, is one of the most absurd things,” Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith said Wednesday before taking the field as a guest instructor with the Cardinals. “I think it speaks to where the game has changed for us as old-schoolers, anyway. If there’s a shift, a total shift, and that means there is somewhere on the field open. Athletically, now, you should be able to hit into that area.