The use of the shift has become a hot topic of conversation in the baseball world. Depending on whether or not you fall into the bucket of new-age fans who see advanced statistics as a vital part of the game, or the old guard that is happy without them, you probably feel one way or the other about the shift. Although the roots of the shift can be tracked all the way back to the 1920’s, the popularity of it has soared during the past decade. With analytics predicting where balls are going to be hit, managers have been executing the shift to the point where it is used several times per game.
It has gotten to the point where the league is stepping in to try to prevent it from being used more often. At the AA level, teams are now required to play four infielders on the infield dirt at all times. This will eliminate those funky shifts that teams employ where an infielder moves to the outfield to lower the chances of a base hit. While this might make analytics people crazy, there are many in the game that want to see the shift disappear. One of those in the game New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor. In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, Lindor detailed his disdain for the way that the shift has infiltrated the game.
“The shift has got to be cut down,” he says. “Let me do me. Let me make the crazy play. Let me be like, ‘O.K., he’s going to pull the ball. I can’t be on that side of the base.’ So as the pitch goes, I run on the other side of the base—pow!—and make the play.”
There are a couple of reasons why what Lindor said makes sense. One of the hallmarks of what Lindor brings to the table is his phenomenal defense. The two-time Gold Glover makes flashy plays one of the most difficult position look easy. The ease that Lindor brings to the field makes him more attractive to casual fans, which is something that the MLB needs plenty of right now. If you waste the fielding ability that Lindor brings to the table by throwing him around to random spots around the infield, you are wasting the potential of pulling people into the game. Lindor is all about growing the game, which means that he’d rather play the game without the shift.
You can put Mets slugger Pete Alonso in the same boat, albeit for different reasons. After a breakout rookie campaign, Alonso struggled during the condensed 2020 season. After looking at stats provided by CBS Sports, it is evident that the shift impacted Alonso last season. After .304 against the shift in 2019, Alonso struggled against it in 2020 with a .231 average. In 2019, teams used the shift against Alonso 25% of the time, but increased it to 38.1% in 2020, which could explain the dip in productivity at the plate for Alonso.
Teams outside of the NL and AL East will take note of the struggles Alonso had against the shift, and further use that against him in 2021. While I’m not saying that baseball should make the game easier for Alonso or other power hitters, there comes a point when you get tired of watching sluggers like Alonso either hit home runs or ground into the shift. Groundouts into the shift will not bring fans back into the stands after the COVID-19 pandemic, but power hitters who struggle less at the plate will.
The shift, despite pushback from MLB stars like Lindor, continues to grow. According to Billy Heyen of Sporting News, the Tampa Bay Rays shifted 731 times in the 2020 season. This was 510 more times than they did in 2010, with a full 162 game season. The shift, along with an increasing strikeout rate, has served to consistently drive fans away from the game of baseball for the past decade. With that in mind, it makes total sense that a player like Lindor, whose entire marketability lives in the fact that he can provide electric play on the diamond, want to get rid of the shift. It’ll be interesting to see what happens at the AA level with their four infielders on the dirt rule. Even if you are an analytical baseball fan, you root for the game of baseball before you root for the analytics that are created from it. The shift is proving more unpopular by the season, and the ridding of it might help the game get back on track to brining fans back into the game.
The shift has been around since the 1920’s
Alonso hit .231 against the shift in 2020
The Tampa Bay Rays shifted more during the 2020 season than the 2010 season
I hate the overuse of the shift. Once in a while is fine but all the time is annoying to watch.
You know baseball is a game of adjustments ,can’t the offense adjust to the shift? Pitchers throw the high fastball now because of the launch angle swings. Cant the analytic guys figure out a way to counteract the shift.
The defense should be deployed wherever it is felt that it produces the best chance to shut down the offence. If the offence can’t adjust – then they are simply out of luck (or lack the ability to score/win).
+1
I wonder if any team has used a reverse shift against Luis Guillorme, the left handed batter hits a high percentage of balls in play to the left side.
Baseball has always taken steps to avoid the game becoming a circus.
The balk rule is a good example. By regulating how the pitcher can perform on the mound, the game becomes easier to follow and understand. If the pitcher were allowed to use all kinds of tricks with runners on base, the fans would be lost as to “what just happened?”.
The shift starts to look a lot like Sunday softball. By becoming less regular and predictable, new fans would certainly have a hard time becoming attracted. How did arena football do?
I like base hits, good individual defense, good base running, and teams that can throw runners out on the bases. Home runs and strikeouts alone don’t do it for me, and as Lindor suggests, would not be enough to draw new fans. Let’s let the game evolve more slowly and keep appealing to those true baseball lovers who have invested a lifetime of interest… for good reason… a great game.
+1
I have been a traditionalist that has been opposed to enacting rules to “ban” the shift, and I’ve been of the mindset that the offense needs to adjust. But, I agree with Wobbit’s point. At the end of the day, baseball is entertainment. If, due to multiple forces at work – technology, compensation, etc. – a facet of the game is unable to adjust in a proper manner, it is better to modify the rules. If they need to enact rules, I would keep it simple – no more than 2 infielders on either side of 2nd base, and no flipping of players positions. I was actually at an extra inning game back in the 1980s, where Davey Johnson ran out of players and had to plunk Rusty in the OF. Based on the hitter, he kept moving him back and forth from LF to RF. It was amusing at the time, but for a sport that has game length issues, enough. 3B and SS can slide left or right and in and out of the 3rd base side on the infield, ditto for 1B and 2B on the 1st base side, and let’s move on to bigger issues.
Tampa Bay has an excellent, successful, innovative organization that gets the most bang on their buck. It would not be fair to change the rules because have mastered the rules that are available to every other team.
The batters should have to adjust not the innovative people. The shift is not ruining the game. The slow pace of the game and the lack of action are the culprits. If the batters would adjust then there should be more base hits and more action on the base paths. Tampa Bay should be not penalized for playing by the rules.
Most likely any rule changes would come slowly and after several years. By then the shift might have evolved, been adapted to, and evolved again. Maybe it will become a liability as teams learn to exploit it. If a LH hitter bunts toward the vacated third base for an easy single, and then steals second, the shifting team has dug itself a hole. Speed and strategy might defeat the shift and therefore temper its use.
Maybe the more egregious part of the shift to the purists is the infielder playing halfway to the outfielder… that’s a real softball move. I guess I don’t mind the middle infielder sliding past second base to shade to the pull side, but that guy in short right field rubs me wrong.
Ban the shift. While effective, it lessens the excitement of the game. Just about every rule change in professional sports, from the DH to the NBA’s 3-second rule, has been geared toward increasing offense. More baserunners means a more lively game.
I’m with Paulc on this one. It’s easy to say the offense should adjust, but it’s hard enough to hit a pitch. The effect of the shift is to reduce baserunners and therefore reduces the excitement the game needs. MLB frequently complains that there are not enough runs scored, so why allow a practice that only enhances the problem?
My feeling is that the defense should do anything it wants with the 7 players it has available. 4 OF? Sure! All IF on the left side? Sure. The problem in my eyes is not that “shift” the but shift to overwhelming acceptance of true outcomes baseball, which is indeed ruining the game. Everyone now is a pull hitter looking for HR. Every pitcher only cares about Ks and BBs. That simply has removed so much of the impetus to be a complete baseball player. We’re told stealing bases or taking extra bases is meaningless. Bunting to get a runner into scoring position is a crime. Defense is Relatively meaningless because at this level we are told that everyone can play defense well enough. The result is a lack of diversity in approach to the game; home runs or strike outs. Sure most of the game is still balls in play, but now the people playing the balls are not so quality.
You want to “shaft the shift”? Get more people out there that view expanding their skills set and raising baseball IQ.
I think it’s an outrageous statement that the shift “has served to consistently drive fans away from the game of baseball for the past decade.”
I’ve heard plenty of people say the game takes too long. I have not heard one single person say that they don’t watch the game because of the shift.
You want to cut down on length of game? Make a rule that hitters cannot adjust their batting gloves. It seems to me the pitchers get far too much blame. Unless a batter gets knocked down, the pitcher should be able to throw the ball whenever he’s ready.
I like HR and feel that bunting and stolen bases are vastly overrated. But if the other team is giving you a base hit by playing an extreme shift – well, you’re foolish as a hitter if you don’t take advantage of that on a somewhat regular basis.