BRADENTON and FORT MYERS, Fla. — The good and the bad of Josh Bell’s defense at first play was on display on Thursday against the Boston Red Sox.
On one play, he ranged behind him into shallow right field, dropped a pop up and then threw it into left field attempting to get a runner out at third. On another he dove to his right, snagging a hard-hit ground ball and tossing it to the pitcher. Later, he made a picture-perfect scoop of a low throw from Gift Ngoepe.
Clearly, Bell is still a work in progress defensively at first base, but manager Clint Hurdle says there has been significant progress made in the past year, with even more work getting accomplished during the weeks in Bradenton since Bell returned from knee surgery in February.