Apparently, the players have agreed to the owners' desire to ban the defensive over-shift - a strategy that extends back to Babe Ruth and Ted Williams - in order to juice scoring levels when this lockout someday ends.
Last time the two sides quarreled, MLB introduced the healing balm of a steroids-based surge in HRs. I suppose a mere rule change is progress, eh?
This change should help bloated old rosters like the Yankees - traditionally larded with dead-pull sluggers who haven't bunted since the Obama administration, and who won't even try hitting to that gigantic hole in the opposite field, even as the Jumbotron lists their batting average below Mr. Mendoza.
For Yankee fans, this quickly conjures otherwise-blocked thoughts of Joey Gallo, last year's prime Cashmanic trade deadline acquisition, who batted .160 with 13 HRs and - gulp - 22 RBIs. If strikeouts were hits, Joey batted .400 for us. This new rule should skyrocket his average - is .200 possible? - and also supercharge Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton and - who knows, maybe Gleyber Torres will start stepping deeper into the bucket and pulling everything to the left side, courtesy of the rule-makers. Should Jay Bruce unretire?
(Before we celebrate, did I mention that this could pose problems for pitchers who rely on contact outs? Sorry, Nestor.)
And then there is DJ LeMahieu, who has fashioned a great career from hitting to all parts of the field. Let's hope he can change his ways and get in on the gravy. The 2022 season - even without the month of April - might bring new assaults on HR records held by all those sluggers who are not in the Hall.
They're banning the over-shift. They're banning strategy. Wow. What's next, banning Tony LaRussa?
No shift. Ridiculous playoff expansion. These are the kind of things that happen when baseball is run by men who are more interested in money than the game itself. Obviously, they don't realize or don't care that this destruction of the game will mean less money and unreclaimable losses in the fan base.
ReplyDeleteLife is like a box of chocolates, and all we have with this group is Crunchy Frog.
Well not trying to be the thing in the some other thing ((I'm too tired to come up with a metaphor here) but I'm glad they are banning the over shift.
ReplyDeleteSports can have formation rules. Soccer and hockey have off sides rules. Football has ineligible receivers. Basketball has the never called 3-second violation. And while I'm on the subject of basketball - I hate the "Euro-step"! Call travelling!
James Harden is really not as good as he appears. He literally runs through the defense making moves that a running back would be proud of and would be impossible if he had to, I don't know, actually dribble the freaking basketball.
But I digress...
Lose the over shift. Yes it would be great if these "professional hitters" learned to bunt or go the other way but apparently they won't or can't. At least the game will bring back base runners and rallies. Who knows maybe steals are next!
Two fielders on each side of the diamond. Stick em where you want as long as it's on the dirt.
Also...
Why don't the players want robo umps? A standardized strike zone favors the hitter. No more Aaron Judge getting called out on low pitches. If they are concerned about the high strike than lower the box. How many times have we seen a guy have to protect the plate against pitches several inches off the plate because the ump is calling outside pitches strikes?
Ridiculous that MLB hitters, supposedly the best on the planet, are unwilling to attempt to beat the shift, so they need to be coddled by a rule change. JM’s post is on target.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea about the objection to robo-calls. It would be a boon for Judge, who seems to suffer more from bad calls than any other player.
Meanwhile, our collective predictions about the lockout seem to be coming true. It’s almost a foregone conclusion another week will be canceled…
From what I read, the league isn't banning shifting entirely, it's more likely to be a restriction (i.e. two infielders must remain on each side of the second base bag).
ReplyDeleteI for one am happy about this change. I'm so tired of three-true-outcome baseball, that I'll welcome any rule changes to make it stop.
The league is also going to implement larger bases and a pitch clock. The bases will apparently be safer for the runner and fielder (think first-base collisions) and may help increase stolen base numbers. The pitch clock will force pitchers to actually throw the ball. I watched a clip on Twitter yesterday of Tampa Bay's Ryan Yarbrough taking 1 minute, 30 seconds between pitches in the third inning of a 2-0 game with no one on base. Just disgusting.
I know a lot of people will oppose change because change is scary, but as far as I can tell all three of these rule changes are designed to take hideous modern baseball and make it more traditional.
El duque says the shift has a long history in baseball, and sure, it was used occasionally against superstars in the past. But you know as well as I do that the shift has skyrocketed in usage the past decade. Teams shifted 2.6% of the time in 2011, 12.1% of the time in 2017, and up to 34.1% of the time in 2020. The Dodgers shift over 50% of the time, and teams are beginning to follow them. Data analytics has wormed its way so deeply into the sport that defensive coaches know exactly where to place all the fielders to strip away base hits.
League batting average by nonpitchers in 2020 (.245) and 2021 (.247) was the lowest it has been since 1968 (.245). And MLB took drastic action after the 1968 season to inject offense back into the game. There's precedent here.
In 2021, there were 8.13 hits per game. That's the lowest mark since 1968 and the second-lowest mark since 1916! Terrible to watch.
Simply crowing about how lefties need to hit the other way is pointless, in my opinion. These guys are being trained from young ages now to buy into the power-or-nothing approach (Gallo hit .224 in AAA, coaches didn't care). And they're facing velocity greater than at any point in baseball history. As far as I can see, MLB needs to either ban the shift or lower/move back the mound again.
As for the bases, going from 15 square inches to 18 square inches isn't a huge change, but if it's safer for the players and may increase stolen bases into the game, I'm fine with it.
In 2021, there were 0.46 SB per game. That's the lowest mark since 1971!
It's been 50 years since baseball was this dull, and I support any minor changes like these to deliver more action.
Maybe you all enjoy watching baseball without hits or stolen bases, where pitchers stand for full minutes before delivering the ball in the 3rd inning of a game with no one on base. I sure as hell don't. As far as I'm concerned, these three changes are in the spirit of traditional baseball and take a swing at the math nerds who have soiled the game.
El Duque, with respect I disagree. Players should be able to hit to all fields, but they won't, cannot, etc...,,, etc,,... The game is so boring, that they need to ban the shift. My opinion.
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for professional baseball players that hit every ball to the same place.
ReplyDeleteI have no patience for three (or two) true outcome hitters.
I have no interest in watching or caring about a baseball team that builds its team around 2 and 3 outcome hitters.
I have no respect for any baseball owner, for so many reasons, and even less respect for Manfred. This bit of stupidity is just one more reason to ignore American baseball this season. Time to strip the owners of their legal protections and take away their stadiums.
Well said, Duque and JM. (And yes, I caught the excellent Python reference, JM!)
ReplyDeleteAnd Doug and Zach, to whom I usually tip my hat and call you my daddy...
Gotta disagree.
I, too, despise "Three Dull Outcomes" baseball. But these rule changes will just make it worse. Sure, pure pull hitters will now end up with more singles and doubles—but they will simply be confirmed in their training to go for a home run on every pitch. Walks and strikeouts won't diminish; if anything, they'll increase.
And the games won't get quicker and shorter. They'll simply be extended with tons of garbage-time home runs...
...Doug, I feel the same way you do about the modern NBA. But that's another reason why baseball is such a superior game. In some 200 years, the players haven't outgrown it.
ReplyDeleteZach, you're right: there have been rule changes in the past in baseball, and some of them have been good. And I'm all for a pitch clock, for instance.
Larger bases? I dunno. Maybe just stop with the replays on steals to see if the fielder held the ball on the runner for a long enough time.
BUT, Zach, all too often those good rule changes were necessary to fix bad, previous rule changes...
...For instance, diminishing the strike zone and the height of the mound in 1969 became necessary because MLB, thinking there was "too much scoring" after the expansion year of 1961, let both be increased.
ReplyDeleteI always prefer organic solutions, if possible. And I'm sure that, with a few more years of Baseball By the Numbers, someone would have figured out to have guys hit to the opposite field again. Then it all would have changed.
This...is just going to exacerbate an existing problem. But hey, I'd settle for it if it means no ads on the uniforms, no 7-inning games, and no Manfred Man runners in extra innings.
And I was looking forward to seeing three new defensive formations designed by the stat nerds who sit in Tampa Bay's war room:
ReplyDelete1. the Pre-Vent Defense. This defense is based on the assumption that, for today's hitters, the fewer the number of defenders in the field, the less contact hitters make, as they all swing for the fences. Only the pitcher is in fair territory. Three infielders play behind the catcher as backup catchers. Two outfielders play in foul territory along the foul lines on either side of the field. The stat nerds have calculated that this formation would result in the vast majority of hitters hitting .000125.
2. the Suicide Defense. This one is designed to knock the ball down in front of the plate so that the hitter will be thrown out on the vast majority of contact. Only the first baseman plays his position. The rest of the defense are stationed only 20 feet from the plate. As soon as the pitcher releases the ball, they run towards the plate and jump to try to knock down any batted ball. Sacrificing the body, they call it.
3. Yo-Yo Ball. This notable feature is actually a variation of Pre-Vent Defense. It takes advantage of the rule that the pitcher's foot must maintain contact with the pitcher's rubber as he throws the ball. According to baseball's legal scholars, merely placing the pitcher's shoe on the rubber satisfies the rule. Thus, after placing his shoe on the rubber, a pitcher runs about twenty feet behind the plate. He tears the stitching in the ball with a sharpened fingernail. Then he undoes the yarn in the stitching to throw the ball out in front of the plate, and then yanks it back towards the plate like a yo-yo. The game is turned into one of extreme pitching and defense as hitters flail at the yo-yo ball. Most contact occurs behind the plate or in foul territory. Against D.J. LeMahieu, however, Tampa would play three infielders on the right side and one outfielder in right field.
Genius, Hammer!
ReplyDeleteHammer,
ReplyDeleteThose are really good.
They should also do the Pepper Spray where nobody runs and the ball just goes back and forth. It will be like watching the Harlem Globe Trotters. VERY entertaining for the kids. They need to appeal to youth.
Didn't they just make the bases bigger last year? Or the year before.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just make the bases out of pizza boxes which are filled with sand and wrapped in duct tape? Forget the home run race ala McGuire and Sosa. Let's see who can be the first to steal 200 bases a year.
Good thoughts, Doug. Ed
ReplyDeleteThink about how much money owners will save if they decide to use pitching machines instead of live pitchers. The offenses will explode as every pitch is to same area of the plate and the same speed. Offense, cash savings, no relievers taking up time (or money). The only thing left to do would be to set a scoring limit like the nba all star game. That way games will end on time. Yankees wont have to worry about who doesnt like to pitch to sanchez...
ReplyDelete