sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
- Joined
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A simpler method than eliminating the shift would be to make the infielders actually play in the infield.
I'm not an advocate of this, or of any restrictions on defensive lineups.
The batters.. and organizations...have brought this on themselves by emphasizing power over bat control and bunting.
No shift could defeat guys like Carew, Rose, and Ichiro, none of whom hit the ball particularly hard, but used the entire field.
They might have batted .750 against a shift.
If batters want to beat today's pitchers, its gonna take brains over brawn.
Personally if you shifted on me, I'd take the free base every single time. I was always a very good bunter and I had speed (I played 1B but I ran like a CF). I am a proponent of OBP% and taking walks and making good contact with good bat control usually gets that for you.