Shifting the Yankees

Via BBTF, Joel Sherman talks to Brian Cashman about how defensive shifts are robbing the Yankees of their home field advantage:

Cashman said his analytics department has done studies that show if you ask players to do what they are not good at — in this case, asking players to bunt or use the whole field more against the shift — they perform worse than even their shifted numbers.

“Some guys are capable of making changes,” Cashman said. “Some guys are not. … We already have seen .265 become .235. We don’t want to see it become .100.”

I continued to be amazed that talented hitters like Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira can’t dial it back a notch, choke up on the bat a little, and try to direct the ball.

Ty Cobb, showing his split grip that allowed him to direct the ball. Source: Library of Congress

You would think that at some point, the players would want to get on base.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1pW3tjP