INCREASED DEFENSIVE SHIFTING IS CHANGING BASEBALL. Recently there has a marked increase in the use of defensive shifts in the major leagues. Sam Miller in the second half of this article on the ESPN website shoots down Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s harebrained proposals to limit the use of defensive shifts. Miller cites research papers which indicate that shifting leads to more runs and more offense—which is what Commissioner Manfred wants.
An example of a shift would be for the defense to have three infielders on one side of second base when confronted with a “pull hitter” who hits the ball most of the time to that side. An example going back to the 1940’s is “the Williams Shift” in which manager Lou Boudreau placed three infielders between first base and second base and left one infield defender to cover half the infield between second and third. The Williams Shift was used against Ted Williams, perhaps the greatest hitter of all time.
Despite the distinguished history of defending against Ted Williams, shifts were relatively rare until the last few years. This year, televised games now show the placement of infielders against each batter.