"Damn, that should be a hit" ESPN article about MLB and the Shift

[gratuitous]

Link to story here.

So let's get quibbling: Is the infield shift hurting baseball, or should hitters try to learn how to hit the other way? According to the story, runs are down as more batters face shifted infield alignments. Those alignments are dictated by deep analytics, studying each batter's tendencies, and drawing up a defensive alignment more likely to result in a batter grounding out or placing an infielder in a short outfield position to take away what would ordinarily be a hit.

I grew up watching the likes of Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, and other hitters who hit the ball where it was pitched, who handled the bat more like a wand, serving up base hits. There's a part of me that says, "Hey, you're supposed to be a Major League Baseball player, learn how to hit to the opposite field." That's the same part of me that gets impatient with NBA players who can't hit a free throw at least 70% of the time. You're supposed to be one of the game's best players. Work on your skills!

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. They, seemingly, can only do two things nowadays

Hit homeruns and strike out.

[HUAJIAO]

2. The METS are doing exactly this,,, and winning big time !!

That said, I don't have a definite opinion yet about the shift. Mixed feelings.

[TheRealNorth]

3. Plus, most pitchers throw in the 90's now.

Back when I was a kid, it seemed like most pitchers thrower in the mid-to upper 80's. I can't imagine it is easy to directionally hit when the pitcher is throwing in the mid to upper 90's.

Also have to consider that they watch the pitcher's pitch counts a lot closer now and you have a lot more bullpen use then what there used to be. So you have more fresher arms being thrown at batters.

[Best_man23]

4. The shift is an old play

The St. Louis Cardinals employed it against Ted Williams in the 1946 World Series. The play was referred to as "The Williams Shift", and this shift along with an injury Ted Williams tried to play through rendered him ineffective for the series (he batted .200).



IMO, modern era players need to work on their batting skills, instead of just trying to put the ball into the cheap seats on every turn at bat. Joe DiMaggio made a career out of hitting doubles, along with a lot of singles, triples, and home runs.

[Gore1FL]

5. The solution is to counter it.

If Matt Carpenter would have learned to bunt down the 3rd-base line he'd have hit over .300 and still be on the Cardinals 25-player roster.

[underpants]

6. Thanks. Saw this earlier and wanted to read it.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. Analytics is what's hurting baseball.

[malthaussen]

8. Hey, they said the same thing about the Outfield Shift back in the day.

Most power hitters are pull hitters. They don't have the skill set to hit the ball to a specific place. Insofar as baseball is all about home runs now (albeit perhaps less than a few years ago), anything that makes homeruns harder is "ruining the game." Which doesn't actually apply to an infield shift, of course. But your average player wants naturally to concentrate on the money skills, which means waiting for a pitch he can hit, then belting it out of the park.

The history of the game has been a constant struggle between the offense and the defense. Everybody has their own notion of what is the ideal balance. Attendance figures seem to demonstrate, though, that if runs fall below a certain threshold, the casual fan will lose interest. So, speaking analytically, if the infield shift drops runs produced below that threshold, then there is a problem, and players will have to adapt to the prevailing conditions and hit 'em where they ain't.

-- Mal