Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

I read an article online today that there is strong support for doing away with the shift and it has strong support from the players. Now I’ve heard this before but they seem to be getting closer. If baseball does away with the shift it will just accelerate their slide to oblivion. They have already done away with extra inning games in the Minors and will probably do it in the Majors because the snowflake players can’t stay awake past 11 o’clock. And the same thing goes with the shift. Instead of trying to be a more complete hitter and learn to hit the ball to all fields they just want to “maximize their launch angle” and change the rules to accommodate them. Any thing that is worth doing is difficult and it should be difficult. The game can adjust itself but that would take some effort and we can’t ask anyone to put out effort these days because it might hurt their self esteem.
And what are they going to do? Put marks on the infield where the fielders must stand? Why not just say that the fielders can’t move and only field balls hit directly at them. That will increase offense and the lazy hitters won’t have to do a damn thing. Hell why not let them hit the ball off of a tee? We can’t have all of these relievers coming in from the bullpen to stiffle offense.......and now I will quietly climb down off of my soapbox.

100% agree. It’s an organic problem that will solve itself organically.

Agreed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The game will adjust. Trust the damn game.

Absolutely agree. Banning shifts is fundamentally changing the game. The game and players adjust, given time, to new strategies. Overreaction by MLB. Rob Manfred is the most vile commissioner we've ever had, far worse than Bud Selig. A complete ignoramus.

I am more concerned about the possibility of a pitch clock in MLB. Shaving 10-15 minutes off of a game time isn't going to make or break if someone is going to watch the game or not. All these little decisions to shave time off of game play is really stupid.

One good change that has happened recently is the elimination of so many collisions at 2B and home plate. Just go to Youtube and search of violent home plate collisions or violent 2b takeout slides and watch some of those clips. Those plays already seem shocking now and this rule hasn't been in place all that long. Call it the Buster Posey rule I guess.

Not as interested in the pitch clock, but cutting just one minute of advertising per half inning break could cut each game time down by 20 minutes. A 90 second half inning break is enough time to throw warm up pitches and get ready for the next inning.

I think one way to speed the game without much controversy would be for home plate umpires to refuse to grant time out to batters who step out to re-adjust batting gloves after every pitch. Use gloves that fit!

The average MLB game takes less time than the average NFL game. Time is not an issue.

I imagine the best way to "outlaw" the shift without a mandate from the league office is to teach hitters how to lay down a bunt on the undefended side of the infield.

hollywood wrote:I imagine the best way to "outlaw" the shift without a mandate from the league office is to teach hitters how to lay down a bunt on the undefended side of the infield.

This doesn't need a rule change. I agree that the shift can be beaten if players simply learn to how to lay down a bunt or hit a soft liner to the opposite field. With an infield shift, all you have to do is get a bunt past the pitcher on the open side and you've got a hit. If the outfield is shifted too, a soft liner to the opposite field becomes a double. And if your bunt or opposite field swat goes off-line, it's usually just a foul ball.

Any batter who shows he can hit .500 (even if all singles) against the shift will soon bring the shift to a halt against him. In recent answers to the thread on bunting for a hit, I cited an article that showed that Mickey Mantle hit well over .500 while bunting for a hit, and other hitters were as high as .700. And that was without the shift.

If there's a way to beat the shift by simply practicing a new skill that's actually encouraged by the rules, then the rules should not be changed.