Taylor Walls is a cheater.
The Rays know it, and they fully support him.
“He cheats, if you want to call it that," Tampa Bay bench coach Rodney Linares said earlier this season.
But there's nothing illegal or underhanded going on here. That "cheating" is part of what makes the 30-year-old shortstop arguably the best at what he does. And what he does better than any infielder in the game is get outs.
Walls' 81% success rate this season -- how often he turns opportunities into outs -- was the best among all infielders who fielded at least 250 attempts. This isn't a one-year outlier; Walls has an 81% success rate since the start of his 2021 debut season, which leads all infielders.
His +21 defensive runs saved this season ranked fourth among all players, regardless of position. Going back to 2021, Walls' +73 DRS sits third.
"I'll watch just what he's doing instead of the pitcher of the game, and he's moving at all times," Rays pitcher Ian Seymour said. "It's a talent I don't think anyone else in baseball has."
Said Guardians manager Stephen Vogt: "Taylor Walls is one of the best shortstops on the planet."
So, how does he do it? This is where that "cheating" comes into play. As Seymour said, Walls is always moving. He is always anticipating. He takes everything into account -- who is at the plate, who is on the mound, the range of the infielders around him, the runners on base -- on every pitch.
He reads hitters' swings, and with the PitchCom transmitter in his cap, Walls knows what pitch is coming. He then decides in real time whether the hitter is going to be late or early or jammed by the next offering. He processes all this information quickly and cheats toward where to put himself in order to make a play. Because of all that, there is rarely a play he doesn't make.
"The most important thing is you have to expect that every single pitch is going to be hit to you," Walls said, when asked what goes into being a great defensive player. "I think if you're not starting there and you're not 100% bought in there, nothing else matters.
"Past that point, I think it's doing the best that you can to anticipate where this ball is actually going to be hit to you at. From there, for my position specifically. It's just keep your feet moving, field the ball with one hand, field the ball outside of your feet, throw on the run as much as you can.”
Walls said that on the eve of World Series Game 1 versus the Brewers, and you could witness almost all of those elements during a crucial late-inning play during Tampa Bay's Game 2 loss in Milwaukee.
The situation: The Brewers lead 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning. There are runners on second and third, with Jackson Chourio, an above-average runner, just 90 feet from the plate. Rays right-hander Kevin Kelly is about to throw a 3-2 sinker down and away to William Contreras.
As Kelly breaks into his windup, first baseman Jonathan Aranda and third baseman Junior Caminero stay essentially stationary. Second baseman Richie Palacios primes his legs with a big leap straight up into the air and lands in the same spot.
Walls, conversely, is on the move. He's already playing in to try to cut down any runner at the plate, but as Kelly releases the pitch, Walls takes a step forward followed by a hop that takes him to the edge of the infield dirt. That extra ground gained becomes significant as soon as Contreras pulls Kelly's outside sinker into the ground.
Walls charges in, fields the chopper on a high hop with his glove, makes a quick transfer and delivers an on-target throw while on the run to catcher Nick Fortes, who puts the tag on Chourio to keep the Rays' deficit at one run.
Walls isn't going to change the game with his bat; he's a career .200 hitter with a .589 OPS through six MLB seasons. But the Rays are perfectly fine with sacrificing some offense in exchange for how Walls changes the game on the other side of the ball.
"I may be biased, but I think a run prevented is the same thing as a run scored," he said on Thursday. "If you're out there and you can take away hits, you can add outs, I think that's just as important as a guy going up there and being able to hit a home run. To me, it's game-changing. I enjoy doing it.
"I'm also very good at it, so maybe that's why, too."