Agreed.
Just doing a sort from 2019 - 2024 .. Vlad is dead last in OAA among all qualified 1b at -32
His main culprit is balls hit to his right (-14) and balls he has to charge in on (-9), but he was still negative value in basically all directions... in, out, left or right.
So far in 2025, he only negative on balls he has to charge (-2), is positive on balls to his left (2), right (1) and neutral on balls behind him (0). Objectively, Vlad is actually having a very good defensive year (for him) given his previous track record.
To put it in perspective... over the same 2019-2024 time frame, Christian Walker is far and away the best defensive 1B and it's not even particularly close. +57 OAA, and 43 runs prevented. 2nd place is Carlos Santana at +23 OAA and 17 runs prevented.