ST. PETERSBURG, FL—Saying he finds the defensive positioning that has been standard in baseball for well over 100 years "staid" and "primitive," Rays manager Joe Maddon revealed Monday he is deep in the process of creating an exciting new infield position for his team. "It's going to be called 'thwartstop,'" said Maddon, who has been working on the position off and on since abandoning efforts to reimagine the left fielder role in the late 1990s. "I haven't worked out all the kinks, but basically you use one less outfielder, and the thwartstop plays in a different part of the infield for each batter, standing in the exact spot spray charts show the batter is most likely to hit the ball." He later showed reporters a special prototype thwartstop glove he has been sewing and divulged that he offered Evan Longoria $500 to star in a instructional video series about the new position that Maddon is self-producing.

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