Could that sweet aroma you’re smelling be … A slice of pie So what was the potential solution? Simple. In other words, that two-on-each-side rule had virtually no impact. (**-added shift limit: two infielders on each side of 2B) (*-only shift limit: no infielders set up in outfield) Percentage of groundballs/bunts turned into outs: But here is what happened in the minor leagues last season, in leagues that required two infielders to set up on each side of the bag in the second half: We also foreshadowed that back in February. So that part of baseball’s shift-curtailing efforts was having little impact.īut wait. Why not? Because that shortstop who used to defend a left-handed hitter by setting up on the right side of second base could still position himself 3 inches to the left of second base. But after a half-season of minor-league experimentation, it’s pretty clear that’s not happening. So the original concept behind requiring two infielders to stand on each side of second base was to open up that area (and others). These days, when Pete Alonso strokes that same groundball up the middle, there is almost always somebody waiting to slurp it up and make him wonder why he didn’t just sell out and try to pull a rocket off the foul pole. Fifty years ago, when Pete Rose hit a hard three-hopper ball up the middle, no infielders were standing there. What the commissioner said he misses - and every hitter on Earth misses way more than him - is the old-fashioned ground-ball single up the middle. In that story, we quoted the commissioner, Rob Manfred, as saying he doesn’t view limiting the shift as a “change.” He views it as a “restoration” of how the game used to be played. We foreshadowed this idea in an article about The Shift in February. So let’s explain … Why baseball is doing this Now baseball will experiment with the same concept.īut we know what you’re thinking. Those sports limit how teams can play defense in those areas. Or think of it as baseball’s version of the neutral zone in football … or the restricted area in basketball, the small area under the basket where defenders cannot draw a charging foul on an offensive player. It’s kind of like a baseball offsides call. If they violate the rule by playing inside the chalk lines, the team at bat gets to choose one of the following: the outcome of the pitch, the outcome of the play or an automatic ball. It will run diagonally in each direction, from the far tip of the second-base bag to the edge of the outfield grass where shortstops and second basemen traditionally stand. In an attempt to create more space in the middle of the field, baseball is about to draw a giant, pie-slice-shaped chalk line in the infield dirt. So left-handed hitters no longer come to the plate and find three infielders - or half the population of Missouri - on the right side.īut Tuesday, sources said, all MLB 30 teams were informed that, in the Florida State League (Low-A level), they’re about to go even further. So all season, in the minor leagues up through Double A, teams have had to play under two major shift restrictions:ġ) No more infielders hanging out on the outfield grass, sneakily stealing all sorts of hits.Ģ) Two infielders must be positioned on each side of second base. So let’s explain.Īs you might have heard, the powers that be at Major League Baseball are looking seriously at limiting defensive shifts, possibly as soon as next year.
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