Ben Fredrickson talks about Rob Manfred’s wish to ban the shift. His first point is funny:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
There is new evidence to introduce to my argument that attempts to prove Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred likes the idea of changing the game of baseball more than he likes the game of baseball.
I don’t think that’s true, but it’s a great opening line. Football tinkers with the rules a lot, because they know the sweet spot for fan interest is 42 points per game. They change things subtlety, however, moving hash marks or changing when a defender can bump a receiver. Baseball can change the ball, or the height of the mound, but other changes effect the fabric of the game in ways fans might not like. Limiting managerial moves with the shift might be one of them.
Fredrickson gets it right here:
The argument for it bemoans sinking batting averages and rising strikeouts. It’s not fun to watch hitters hit into a shift, they say. Well, at least we can agree on something.
What the ban-the-shift crowd ignores are the lack of adjustments hitters have made to try to combat the trend. Defenses no longer worry about opening up swaths of the field to hitters, because hitters continue to reject the invitation to hit (or bunt) into wide-open areas.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
These adjustments take time. The pendulum will swing back when someone wins an MVP hitting against the shift. Bill James like to say in his Baseball Abstracts that every strength hides a weakness. At some point, the weakness of the shift will be exploited. Baseball just needs to wait for it to happen.
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2UPaRhN
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