[a little elbow grease]

"Outlawing the shift will do nothing but encourage the continued development of lazy hitters."

_____________

So true. When I played baseball at a pretty high level, I was humorously known to have "warning track power" (it means you don't hit many homeruns).

Anyhow I loaded up on doubles and triples, and singles, and for years, WITHOUT the homeruns, led my team in total bases.

Hit 'em where they ain't.

;-)

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

As Wee Willie Keeler used to say, “ Keep your eyes clear, and hit’ em where they ain’t: that’s all.”

Up to the advent of modern data, it used to be taken as a given that any shift would be defeated by almost any good hitter. And that not-good hitters might hit weakly anywhere.

Modern data shows that plenty of major league hitters are remarkably predictable, and can’t place the ball worth a darn. Shifts only validate that insight, and they will continue to work until and unless a generation of place hitters arises.

Another aspect of the hitter’s talent is simple speed. Really fast-running hitters force the infielders to tighten up, and cause infielders to make errors in haste. After Ryan Howard blew out his leg in a playoff game, he never was able to actually run again - and infielders could play back and in a shift with impunity. He was terrible until his contract expired, and then he was gone. You could say he milked his contract at the end, or you could say that he was just collecting what the he deserved from the Phillies for being underpaid at the start of his career.

At this point the Phillies are a young team, and legitimately fleet afoot up the middle and in right field. Even their primary catcher has respectable speed, and the others don’t actually clog up the bases if they get on. If they could actually hit consistently, they might get somewhere. :-)