The numbers are insane with how many times teams are shifting for lefties. Saw it tonight for both Smoak and Pronce (who had a swinging bunt hit). What will it take for players to drop bunts or learn to hit down that line?

It will take an economic shift and focus on contracts to pay more for bunts instead of HRs and RBIs.

Even if a player like Hamilton or Fielder or other goes with the dink or bunt to 3rd... it is nothing more than a IBB.

Players don't get big money for bunts and opposite field singles.

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It will take an economic shift and focus on contracts to pay more for bunts instead of HRs and RBIs.

Even if a player like Hamilton or Fielder or other goes with the dink or bunt to 3rd... it is nothing more than a IBB.

Players don't get big money for bunts and opposite field singles.

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It's not even big money players/home run threats that are getting shifted for.

I think more players need to approach it like the aforementioned IBB. They also need to realize that it is better for their wallet to take the free hit vs. than consistently hitting into the teeth of the shift.

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It's not even big money players/home run threats that are getting shifted for.

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And many of those are willing to take the base hit.

Someone like Hamilton and Fielder are reluctant to take what the team gives.

Not hitting into the shift is not a choice the hitters are making based on what they get paid to do.

It's a weakness of the players that they can't hit as well and as consistent to the opposite field. The numbers are the proof.

Ortiz has taken the free pass from time to time.

I think it would also depend on the situation. If your team is up by a lot, why do it? If they are down and you need baserunners, why not take the free base. If they could slap it down the 3rd base line, they might even end up on second base.

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Not hitting into the shift is not a choice the hitters are making based on what they get paid to do.

It's a weakness of the players that they can't hit as well and as consistent to the opposite field. The numbers are the proof.

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It derives from the inability to go to the opposite field consistently, but when you start seeing the shift on a regular basis, any player should be prepared to bunt/dink one down the opposite field line and take the easy base. And you keep taking easy bases until the defense decides the shift doesn't pay off for them anymore - at that point they rebalance and you can swing away and pull the ball as you were before.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 4/15/2014 2:43p).]

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It's a weakness of the players that they can't hit as well and as consistent to the opposite field. The numbers are the proof.

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This. I thought the whole point of the shift was because the batter hardly ever goes the other way. But I'm not sure if this is because of inability or stubbornness.

There is a difference between hitting the other way and dropping a bunt or slap hit down the line.

Keep in mind, the pitcher also plays a role, here.

I know in Intramural softball... we routinely didn't have enough OFers and it was very easy to shift the OF leaving a huge gap in RF.

You pitch a LHB inside and he can almost NOT hit it the other way.

Part of it is dinking and dunking is harder said than done, for various reasons, and especially for those guys whose skill set has led teams to shift against them.

I.e. its possibly a little presumptuous to assume trying to dink/dunk/bunt is advantageous, in the short term, at least.

On that note, I'd mention that a bunt base hit by xxxx big name slugger isn't something a team that shifts necessarily does not want to happen. A bunt hit followed by your typical middle to late of the order hitters will not result in many runs*. A one-trick pony hitter- shift or not shift- will struggle at times in the big leagues, a place where the best guys in the game are failing 70%+ of the time. (Guys simply should try to get better at being all-around hitters, shift or not shift, as long as they don't go so far as to attempting to fit a square peg of skills into a circle hole of a strategy.)

*An assumption of my own. I would be very, very curious to see outcomes of innings in which David Ortiz- one of the best at beating shifts- beats the shift via "dinking and dunking" (and to see it compared to those times when he swings away against the shift).

Give it some more time. Shifting has developed into a more substantial strategy over time as the defensive side of the game has adjusted to the offensive side of the game. Shifting has possibly taken the lead now, but the reverse will start to happen and the offensive side of the game will adjust.

Again, give it some time. Guys will become more proficient in beating the shift as time moves along.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 4/15/2014 6:57p).]

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I know in Intramural softball... we routinely didn't have enough OFers and it was very easy to shift the OF leaving a huge gap in RF.

You pitch a LHB inside and he can almost NOT hit it the other way.

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I hope this is a joke. But in the event it isn't, back in tee ball we'd force the left handers into hitting in the shift until they learned to push it in the opposite field so I don't think your softball team experience is necessarily applicable.

What did I miss? There is a lot of truth to what DallasAg said. Pitching inside tends to make the batter pull it. Pitching outside tends to make the batter shoot it opposite field. What does T Ball have anything to do with this?

Pitching a LHB inside with a huge gap in right sounds like a terrible idea is what he is getting at. Probably meant pitch him outside and he can't pull it...

Summit, comparing Intramural beer league softball experience with Professional hitters is about as relevant as Tee-Ball. That was my point.

Speaking of beer leagues, instead of modifying the home plate collision rule, I think MLB should have instituted a 2nd home plate for the runner like they have in my beer league.