[stevenash]

This season MLB is on a 47,000 infield shift pace.
47,000 times teams have employed an infield shift is ten times more than the infield shifts just seven years ago.

Here's a novel idea on how to eliminate a percentage of those shifts.
These pull hitters that face the shift really need to learn how to a) go the opposite way, or b) drop a bunt to the vacated portion of the infield. It's not hard to go the opposite way, just hit the ball deeper in the contact zone, keep the weight back, stay inside the ball and keep the barrel of the bat above your hands.

Professional hitters are just that, professional.
They are paid to hit, not just hit to one side of the field, but to hit to all fields. But that's just me.

p.s. the team that has utilized the shift most so far this season are the Astros then the Orioles.

[2daBank]

Apparently it is hard cause I see so many guys incapable of beating it!!

Matt carpenter a great example, dude having a awful year but basically refuses to simply put some bunts down and take the free base!! One of very few times I have seen him do it he actually bunted for a double against the redic shift being employed against him!!! Just pissed me off he doesn’t do it more often!! Especially when he was leading off where his job is to in fact get on base!!

[sosawestbrook]

the only question I have is how many times did the shift hurt the defensive team? how many potential wins were taken away because of it?

need those answers.

[2daBank]

the only question I have is how many times did the shift hurt the defensive team? how many potential wins were taken away because of it?

need those answers.

It takes way more hits away than it causes, hence why teams do it.

[stevenash]

Name the batter? The pitcher is Verlander.
Guess the result? OK I'll give that away, ground out to second base.

[leetreaper]

Name the batter? The pitcher is Verlander.
Guess the result? OK I'll give that away, ground out to second base.

I remember this: Joey Gallo

[kidcudi92]

Name the batter? The pitcher is Verlander.
Guess the result? OK I'll give that away, ground out to second base.

Gallo

[2daBank]

Name the batter? The pitcher is Verlander.
Guess the result? OK I'll give that away, ground out to second base.

Holy fukk. That even worse than the ones teams use on carpenter!!

[stevenash]

Yeah, it was Gallo.
Astros use the shift the most, over 42 percent of all plate appearances Houston uses the shift.

Kris Bryant gets shifted the most of all the RH batters in the MLB, 54.8 percent of the time Bryant sees a shift.
Why not? 84 percent of Bryant's ground balls are pulled.

The Cards are the best at strategic positioning. That's where the infield stays two on the left side and two on the right side, but the second baseman plays deep almost into short right field.

[Regul8er]

The problem is, players these days are paid to hit balls out of the park and drive in runs. Slapping the ball the other way and dropping down bunts isnt accomplishing what they are being paid to do. I dont like where the game is and where its headed, but its reality.

[stevenash]

Shame on me, I neglected to add the shift has shaved exactly .30 points off the BA than a non shift.

On the other side of the coin, walks are up slightly when the shift is on.

[jjgold]

Nashy always breaking things down

[stevenash]

Nashy always breaking things down

It's the analytic geekness in my DNA.
It's who I am, it's what I do.

[KVB]

Name the batter? The pitcher is Verlander.
Guess the result? OK I'll give that away, ground out to second base.

Unreal.

The left fielder left to cover everything. They are just begging him to hit it there.

[stevenash]

Unreal.

The left fielder left to cover everything. They are just begging him to hit it there.

Thing is Gallo can't hit it there if he had it on a tee.

[mpaschal34]

Name the batter? The pitcher is Verlander.
Guess the result? OK I'll give that away, ground out to second base.

Was last year since Marwin Gonzalez was on the team.

[Mr KLC]

That's why I have respect for hitters like Josh Reddick who saw what was happening, and improved his hitting to the other side. I really think it is an ego thing with some of these players. How dare someone suggest to them to lay down a bunt when chicks dig the long ball. Same goes for the NBA. How many of these kids would improve their free throw shooting if they bit the bullet, and shot it granny style.

[clockwise1965]

Great stuff

[MinnesotaFats]

the only question I have is how many times did the shift hurt the defensive team? how many potential wins were taken away because of it?

need those answers.

Yup

Statistically a defense probably content to concede 1 base to a slugger versus risking an RBI

Thou I despise the shift in theory. It's a defense strategy, physical and mental, and to take that away the offense must take the free base. It's no different than in football, you take what the defense gives you early on....

Hitters will take those freebies going forward and the game will evolve back to speed and small ball ala the 70s/80s

It always has been a cyclical sport, because the rules haven't changed- only the make up of the rosters

[Toledo Ed]

Impressive

[Mike Huntertz]

Chicks dig the long ball....pull hitters pull to get their willy pulled.

[stevenash]

Historians say Ted Williams encountered the shift numerous times in his career and rightfully so.
He was a dead pull hitter but approached .400 in his amazing career numerous times.

Williams though had the uncanny ability to adjust his bat speed deep into his swing, thus adjusting to off speed pitches.

Watch the barrel of the bat here. It goes from the tipped position to level as the pitch comes in.
It's called centripetal force

https://www.google.com/search?ei=kWh...71.kW-1p0KvLso
This movement starts before the shoulders are turned, this movement is the swing, without it Williams or other elite hitters can't hit adjust to all pitch speeds and all locations.
Elite hitters don't start from a dead standstill, big problem today is batters are taught to start from zero, you can't hit elite pitching that well like that, you have to create momentum. That's very difficult to master though, easier said than done.

[TommieGunshot]

The problem is, players these days are paid to hit balls out of the park and drive in runs. Slapping the ball the other way and dropping down bunts isnt accomplishing what they are being paid to do. I dont like where the game is and where its headed, but its reality.

Maybe one day a team will come along and start paying players to best help them win.

[stevenash]

Maybe one day a team will come along and start paying players to best help them win.

When I was a kid the leadoff hitter was a stolen base machine, and the number two hitter was your consummate stick man. You know the hit and run artist, the man who can shoot it through the hole in the infield when then lead off man is attempting a steal.
Look at this season's stolen base leaders, nobody swipes a base these days anymore, and the art of the hit and run is extinct like the T-Rex.

[KVB]

When I was a kid the leadoff hitter was a stolen base machine...

Ricky Henderson. I remember going to an A's doubleheader and he led both games off with home runs.

Great stuff.

[stevenash]

Ricky Henderson. I remember going to an A's doubleheader and he led both games off with home runs.

Great stuff.

Gotta love Ricky, the self proclaimed greatest ever.
George Springer too is another leadoff guy with pop, but he doesn't steal 16 anymore.