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The williams shift has been around forever but with more data available more and more teams are starting to do rather extreme shifts for RH and LH batters. players would always shift over a little for power hitters but those drastic shifts for a lot of hitters have really increased a lot.
I think a lot of this has to do with the success of tampa who started doing this a lot. stats have shown that it works very good. sometimes you get beat badly for extra bases but most of the time if a pull hitter tries to go oppo he won't go really oppo but more up the middle and be an easy out because this is how he plays (of course not all shifts are pull shifts- I have seem occasional oppo shifts but much rarer).
thus a lot of other AL teams adopted that with good success.
but how do you like this? I think this is great skill by the scouting however to me it is a little boring. the hitter either has to go against his nature and sacrifise power or try to hit through the shift and easily lose 50 points on BA if not more. a lot of times really well hit balls are made into outs by the shift.
I'm not saying this is cheating and I would do this too as a manager but I can't help but finding this a little boring to see a power hitter to either try to slap one away from the shift or hitting a rocket into the shift.
what do you think about this recent trend?
I think a lot of this has to do with the success of tampa who started doing this a lot. stats have shown that it works very good. sometimes you get beat badly for extra bases but most of the time if a pull hitter tries to go oppo he won't go really oppo but more up the middle and be an easy out because this is how he plays (of course not all shifts are pull shifts- I have seem occasional oppo shifts but much rarer).
thus a lot of other AL teams adopted that with good success.
but how do you like this? I think this is great skill by the scouting however to me it is a little boring. the hitter either has to go against his nature and sacrifise power or try to hit through the shift and easily lose 50 points on BA if not more. a lot of times really well hit balls are made into outs by the shift.
I'm not saying this is cheating and I would do this too as a manager but I can't help but finding this a little boring to see a power hitter to either try to slap one away from the shift or hitting a rocket into the shift.
what do you think about this recent trend?
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