How will eliminating the shift prevent him from striking out 227 times per season, as per his current 162 game average?
The shift is part of strategy. Baseball is all about percentages, adjustments, counter moves etc... If they are eliminating the shift it's a fukin embarrasment to where we are. This isn't some purist bs, it's about the integrity of the game and the core of it. What's next, fielders can't move until the ball enters their area? So over the money part of sports....
Agree 100% for this. Any rule change that encourages a player in the mold of Joey Gallo is a bad thing.
The picture below is the definition asinine. The MLB average this year is .242 - The lowest it's been since 1968. Pitchers are throwing harder and have more movement on the ball than ever before and you want to make hitting harder? Hitting a baseball is already the hardest thing to do in all of sports. Baseball is already a snooze fest for the younger generation. The game is dying. Wanna know what makes the game exciting? Running, diving, throwing -- ACTION. Why not let the best athletes on the field do those things? Removing the shift is a win for the longevity of the game and might actually keep people interested.
MLB hitters do try to take a 90+ MPH fastball to opposite field, the problem is that it is extremely fucking difficult. Not many professional, MLB caliber hitters can do it. If it were so easy, teams would have their entire lineup just slap it into open spaces like that and the league wide batting average would be higher than .242. Even one of the best contact hitters in baseball in Jeff McNeil can't slap it to opposite field against the shift every time. You need a pitch in the right spot to do it. Putting the fucking third baseman in RIGHT FIELD is a joke. Teams should be required to have two fielders on both sides of 2B. Move them however you want on those sides. The kind of shift in that image is horrendous for baseball.
It is logic like this why hitters like Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, and Ichiro Suzuki don't exist in the game today. Instead of making the necessity the mother of all invention, young up and coming ball players are simply being told that they CAN'T hit the ball to the opposite field, so they should not even bother trying. It really is funny: fans have made it clear that the all-or-nothin, strikeout-or-home run game of today is boring, sloppy, and not entertaining, yet the only solutions that are being presented to resolved this only reinforce the bad habits that got baseball here in the first place.
Such a terrible counter argument. If it were that easy the league batting average wouldn't be the lowest it's been in almost 45 years. Don't you think they would do it if they could? Come on lmao. You just rattled off 4 of the greatest hitters of all time. Unfortunate that entire lineups aren't consisted with 9 HOFers. The game is boring because there is no action. The athletic players can't do what they are athletically gifted to do -- run, dive, or throw. How exciting is a hit and run? How exciting was it to see Jeter go into the hole and jump throw to first or a 2nd basemen go up the middle and make a diving play up the middle? Now all you see is the shortstop or 3B playing over the bag up the middle for a groundout. That shit sucks and it is exactly why the younger generation hates the game of baseball. It's boring. The athletes aren't allowed to be athletes.
Except those 4 guys WOULD exist in today's game. Contact hitting still has it's place in the MLB, look at 2x All-Star Jeff McNeil. One of the best contact hitters in baseball right now and even he can't go opposite field at will to beat the shift.
It is completely unrealistic to point to the shift as the sole reason that batting averages are so low. Again, I ask: What impact does the shift have on the fact that strikeouts are at an all-time high in Major League Baseball? Again, you have MLB basically PROMOTING this lousy all-or-nothing strikeout-or-home run game you see today! Do you think anyone ever cared about Carew's "Exit Velocity"? Tony Gwynn hit a total of 135 Home Runs in a 20 year career. I would bet good money that today, there would be "experts" complaining about his "launch angle". The game is in shambles because of the very league who chose to turn it into a glorified home-run derby.
No one is saying it is the sole reason that it is so low but it is absolutely a factor. Combine that with the exit velo + launch angle BS of the game and this is what you have. The analytical stuff isn't going away, but you can at least help improve the issue by getting rid of the asinine shift. The game is slow and boring and losing fan interest fast. There is no denying that. You want to fix that even more? Your best athletes need to showcase their abilities.
Im sorry, was there something factually incorrect about me saying he is one of the better contact hitters in baseball? Let me know what’s factually incorrect about that one. Did I say the guy was Pete Rose or Ichiro
Fascinating discussion. Just a couple of points: 1. Analytics are what fuel the all-or-nothing HR/Strikeout approach. The metrics guys believe the value of the home runs outweighs the detriment of all the Ks. The Ks occur because: (1) hitters use a pronounced upper cut (euphemistically called launch angle); and (2) they swing just as hard with two strikes as on any other count. No more shortening up with two strikes and protecting the plate. Even if we accept the analytics approach as sound, it's resulted in games that are less exciting than watching paint dry. Let me ask all of you one question: when was the last time you watched a game on TV from beginning to end with no channel-surfing when things got really dull? 2. Major-league hitters can hit the ball the other way if they want to. With power hitters, pitchers feed them pitches that are tough to pull but a lot easier to slap the other way. On rare occasions, I've seen Giancarlo Stanton intentionally go the other way, and, yes, on a couple of very rare occasions, even Joey Gallo did it. They can do it. Most of them don't because of money. To get the big contract, you have to be a power hitter. Even back in the '60s, the saying was "HR hitters drive Cadillacs, while the rest drive Fords." 3. Don't overlook hitters' egos. They take great pride in hitting the ball a long way. It's a macho thing, like pitchers taking pride in how hard they throw. Cleveland manager Lou Boudreau popularized the shift by using it against Ted Williams in 1946. Boudreau knew Williams was too proud to slap the ball the other way. The same holds true today.
Why is baseball not allowed to change the rules. Football has plenty of times. What about hockey? Who could forget the 2 line pass? Baseball has changed rules in the past as well. I don't see why this is a huge deal.
Because old heads hate change and baseball is built on unwritten rules and tradition. The same unwritten rules and tradition that are killing the game
Because in this instance, changing the rule will not only fail to solve the problem, but make the problem even worse. It will further encourage this "All-or-Nothing" Mentality, causing strikeouts to surge even higher.
Could not have said this any better if I tried. Good Lord, even Todd Frazier did it!!!! I agree that this is part of the problem, but to me, the bigger issue is that somewhere along the line (High School, College, Minor League/Development), contact hitters are being taught that their style is not the way baseball is played anymore. How many times have we heard the words "The Game has Changed!" Well guess what? It can change back too if molded in that direction.
I don't believe that at all. What it will allow is a ball pulled through the hole to be a bit, unlike the current version of fielding in baseball. Where was this crying when they went to the 3 batter minimum for a relief pitcher? Or the runner on second in extra innings? Those are much more radical than saying the 3rd baseman can't play short right field.
