Vladdy has been positioning himself like this prior to this year, before Mattingly got here. Maybe he does block off some of the runners sight, but that's not why it's done.
His positioning is proven to be a better starting point with a man on. Allows him to cover the hole better while still being to apply a tag on the runners back side on a pick off attempt.
Still early enough in the game to try and get a another quick inning out of Kikuchi at 83 pitches. Long stretch with no off days and Kikuchi only going four innings definitely played into the move.