Shaw was not called on to have any level of range whatsoever. He held up fairly decently because they had him positioned so well and converted outs into outs. He wasn't taking hits away from anyone. Other than of course when they had him lined up in a spot that other teams would have had no one.



Baltimore is one of the worst teams in baseball at advance scouting and utilizing positioning and shifts. It's one of the reasons Stearns was so hot after so many of their pitchers. Take any Orioles pitcher and have them pitch in front of the Brewers positioned defense and it shaves about a run and a half off their ERA. It's that dramatic.



It's 100% the most important factor in team defense. You could have a team full of poorly positioned gold glovers save fewer defensive runs than a team with mere average and above average glovers who are positioned correctly. You can't field what you're not in position to glove.



Skill-set is not entirely irrelevant. Travis Shaw is a great example. He's sound enough capturing ball into glove and throwing said ball accurately to the right base. That's not asking him to have amazing range, quick hands, or a canon for an arm. But you can have a defense that saves run with a Shaw put in the right spots.



Defensive runs saved is absolutely a team stat. If your organization correctly scouts, positions, and pitches to initiate contact to where you have your 9 defenders positioned it will save runs. And your individual defenders don't have to be elite to be a leader in DRS. The Brewers have 2 elite defenders and a bunch of average ones. Yet placement combined with pitch selection allowed the team to finish 2nd in DRS. Without the organization's heavy emphasis on shifts, placement, and it's marriage with pitch strategy, this team's defensive effectiveness would be middle of the pack at best with these position players.



What I've said multiple times is that he's been adequate at 2B outside of NYM and PHI which are two very poor teams at positioning. He amassed -31 DRS at 2B in the past 2 years with the Mets and Phillies. His 6 year total at 2B is -21 meaning he saved 10 runs at 2B the four years prior. All I've ever said is he'd look a lot better playing 2B for the Brewers and to me that is obvious. People are writing him off as a butcher when if positioned correctly he'd be fine and his bat would be a big plus up the middle.