The impact of the shift going away

[Docwaukee]

I've been seeing quite a few people reference the shift going away as something that's going to have a significant impact on this player or that player.  

Personally, I don't feel like it's going to be that big of a deal.  Maybe for lefties that tend to hit the ball hard.  

What are your thoughts?  

[totdprods]

7 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

I've been seeing quite a few people reference the shift going away as something that's going to have a significant impact on this player or that player.  

Personally, I don't feel like it's going to be that big of a deal.  Maybe for lefties that tend to hit the ball hard.  

What are your thoughts?  

I think pure pull lefties will definitely see some benefit without having three infielders and the occasional player in shallow RF. Some of those shifts were extreme and on the money. I imagine extreme pull righties will benefit too, but they don’t seem to be as pronounced. 

[ScottT]

I think it will be impactful.  Towards the end of the season, Ohtani was one that was estimated to have lost the most hits.   It could add 20 points to his batting average, I think.   .220 hitters aren't going to become .280 hitters.  you can still play someone near 2B.  You can still move the outfielders however you want.  

[Second Base]

Joey Gallo may see a resurrection of his career. 

[greginpsca]

11 minutes ago, Second Base said:

Joey Gallo may see a resurrection of his career. 

He will have to make contact for that to happen.

[T.G.]

No shift? Time to bring Pujols back as a player!

[Second Base]

4 hours ago, greginpsca said:

He will have to make contact for that to happen.

Gallo is as likely to make contact as the Angels are of making the playoffs. It's a wild world though, and if that happens, anything to can happen, from there. 

I think Shohei's going to hit .290 though. 

[arch stanton]

We’ll have to see how teams use their data to combat it. I’m sure they’ve worked out some creative solutions

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

6 hours ago, ScottT said:

I think it will be impactful.  Towards the end of the season, Ohtani was one that was estimated to have lost the most hits.   It could add 20 points to his batting average, I think.   .220 hitters aren't going to become .280 hitters.  you can still play someone near 2B.  You can still move the outfielders however you want.  

Can you move them to the IF?

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Can you move them to the IF?

I don’t believe so

[Docwaukee]

two guys on the dirt on each side of the 2b bag.  You can still park a guy a bees dick to the left or right of the bag so that's hardly gonna matter.   The biggest impact will be not be able to park the 2b in the OF.  

[ScottT]

3 hours ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Can you move them to the IF?

I thought a five man infield will be ok, but a four man outfield wont be, but I can't find info on it....

[Angelsfan1984]

Think the rule will be 2 guys on either side of 2nd base and on the dirt?

[Lou]

5 hours ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Can you move them to the IF?

Yes.

This rule does not preclude a team from positioning an outfielder in the infield or in the shallow outfield grass in certain situations. But it does prohibit four-outfielder alignments.

[arch stanton]

So instead of having the hole at 3rd base it could be all of LF that’s left unmanned against pull lefties. Could we see some try to perfect the inside out swing?

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, arch stanton said:

So instead of having the hole at 3rd base it could be all of LF that’s left unmanned against pull lefties. Could we see some try to perfect the inside out swing?

I can’t imagine a team leaving an entire outfield spot unmanned. It certainly wouldn’t happen with a runner on base. It’s one thing to give up an automatic single with an infield shift. But if you leave left field wide open you’d be giving up an easy double and possibly a triple. 

[Stradling]

I think the impact of the shift will be athletic defenders with range at 2nd and SS will have more value than they’ve had with the shift. 

[Blarg]

I think David Fletcher might just get a couple more of his 185 bloops to right to fall in for a hit.

[Stradling]

5 minutes ago, Blarg said:

I think David Fletcher might just get a couple more of his 185 bloops to right to fall in for a hit.

I don’t. But I do think his defensive value increases because he has good range. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

6 hours ago, Stradling said:

I can’t imagine a team leaving an entire outfield spot unmanned. It certainly wouldn’t happen with a runner on base. It’s one thing to give up an automatic single with an infield shift. But if you leave left field wide open you’d be giving up an easy double and possibly a triple. 

If you have two CF quality outfielders I could see a team shifting the outfield over and playing the right fielder really shallow against some dead pull lefties. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 hours ago, Blarg said:

I think David Fletcher might just get a couple more of his 185 bloops to right to fall in for a hit.

The defense against Fletcher isn't going to change, so if he gets more hits it will be because he started hitting the ball harder.

[AngelsLakersFan]

2 hours ago, Stradling said:

But I do think his defensive value increases because he has good range. 

I think I've settled on the defensive value of a guy like Fletcher being roughly equal.

He will likely be increasingly above average as a second basemen, but the average is going to slip considerably.

 

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

The defense against Fletcher isn't going to change, so if he gets more hits it will be because he started hitting the ball harder.

Which hasn’t happened in a few years. He’s barreled three balls in his career, and not since 2020. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 minute ago, Stradling said:

Which hasn’t happened in a few years. He’s barreled three balls in his career, and not since 2020. 

Ya it's not going to happen. I think this year will show that Fletcher is not an MLB caliber starting second basemen.

[Dtwncbad]

40 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Ya it's not going to happen. I think this year will show that Fletcher is not an MLB caliber starting second basemen.

I love Fletcher as a high level role player that gets playing time regularly all over the place.  I am not a fan of a plan that gets him 550 plate appearances. . . . That is unless he is the 9th hitter in an otherwise stacked lineup, making his impotent bat no big deal.