I've been watching a lot of baseball shifts being employed in virtually all of baseball nowadays and I have to say that I am very surprised at how effective that they are. In the Tigers and Cubs series, there have been probably about 20 or so examples where a player hits the ball well but right at a shifted defensive player. Also I would love to be in the pitcher/catcher/coach reviews before the game where they go over the hitters and how they are going to pitch them and defensively defend them. I supposed that there are videos and scouting reports that they go over. If I had a bucket list, that would be one of my desires.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Teams might as well start putting their outfielders in the bleachers when they play the Sox. At least then they may have a chance of catching some of these home runs.

_________________

Manfred needs to change the rules to tighten up the parameters on the shifts. For instance, shortstop should not be able to cross over past the other side of 2B until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand (and vice versa for the 2nd baseman going the other way).

This is bullshit, and it is not baseball.

_________________
We Now Know That JOE BIDEN has been COMPROMISED by CHINA! (let that sink in)

Election 2020-The Largest Fraud in the History of Mankind.

*If you believe that Biden won, you also believe that Epstein killed himself*

I don't think there should be limits on the shifting (it's up to batters to adjust and hit it to the open areas)...but I will say it's unnerving to see balls hit sharply up the middle and my brain says "single" until the camera shows the fielder standing right there.

_________________

I like home runs just as much as the next guy, but it is called "Baseball", not "Homerball".

_________________
We Now Know That JOE BIDEN has been COMPROMISED by CHINA! (let that sink in)

Election 2020-The Largest Fraud in the History of Mankind.

*If you believe that Biden won, you also believe that Epstein killed himself*

That's part of the problem -- hitters spend their time on launch angle and trying to hit everything over the fielders instead of working on directional hitting.

_________________

Which came first, all the shifting or focus on launch angle?

_________________

Fence distance hasn't moved back to account for strength. There was occasional shifting going back to Ted Williams, but now the hitters aren't adept enough at adjusting.

The Padres are basically playing with three infielders and four outfielders at home against pull lefties. They've cut their grass short, stuck Machado where a RF would typically play against a pitcher at the plate, and dared lefties to beat him. The fly from Gallo the other day, Machado was 283 feet from home plate when he caught it.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I would like to see more parks push the fences back. Obviously Wrigley is locked in, but that's the exception. The Dodgers actually brought their fences in a few years ago, which is ridiculous to me.

_________________

The shifted him from 3B to behind 1B?

He was closer to 1B than 2B, and probably 150 feet from home plate. Then he ran towards the RF corner at a full sprint to catch Gallo's fly. Will Meyers who is a butcher was playing RF pretty much straight away, and Machado beat him there easily.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Padres/statu ... 5702353920

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Lay a bunt down

_________________

Steve Stone was talking about bunting against the shift the other night. He didn't use specific numbers, but he said that bunting was counter productive.

I guess if you are good enough at it that a bunt has a 40% chance of succeeding then that's an .800 OPS. So if you are a .230/.330/.525 LH power hitter you are better off swinging away. You have to be able to bunt with probably a 52-55% success rate for it to be worth it, unless you can perfect the Robinson Camo bunt double.

https://youtu.be/KZth29D337A

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I don't know if enough people try to make the data on bunting vs the shift accurate.

_________________

And there are situations where it is more helpful than others - nobody on base with 2 outs is not ideal, but what if you have 0 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd? And maybe not even bunt, what if you just slap a single down the line with hopes of it turning into a double?

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

If there is a guy on second, they won't shift...

I agree that players should try and bunt more against the shift. Stone's point was that he'd rather just give up the possible single.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I think if you prove that you can beat the shift, they'll stop doing it as much against you which probably raises your long term results.

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Nah. This is certainly baseball and if hitters cannot adapt to hitting away from those shifts, that's on them. I also do not understand why most of these hitters are afraid to lay bunts down for free base hits. To me, that is just selfishness on their part.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

If you just have to get a ball down between the mound and 3rd base..it should be a 60% success rate at the very least.

_________________

That right and this is more an indictment on today's hitters inability to bunt than anything else. If a player cannot bunt, then he shouldn't be asked to bunt. That much is simple. But I would teach all of these guys in the minors how to bunt as a means of improving their OBP. There are so many examples in all of the games today where if a player could bunt, it would have resulted in runs for their team.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Are pitchers getting better pitching to the shift? When BP ran the numbers in 2018 pitchers were more often putting themselves in a hole in the count when pitching in front of the shift:

Man I 1000% percent agree with you on this. Dusty Baker needs to read this thread. You only bunt if you think you'll get a positive outcome from bunting. If a HR hitter can't bunt, don't make him bunt to try to prove a point.

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

I think Lester has asked that the players not shift when he's pitching...not sure if they still do a little.

_________________

No parody "Shits in Major League Baseball" thread yet?

that's a really ridiculous statement. Beat the shift until they can't do it anymore.

Nobody bunts anymore.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

whistler was busy with tollbooths last night.

_________________

The only shift that matters in baseball is the White Sox becoming the team of the 2020s.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

George Brett

_________________

_________________