INCREASED DEFENSIVE SHIFTING IS CHANGING BASEBALL FOR THE BETTER. Shifting opens up a range of tactical questions which fans can think about and discuss from batter to batter in the course of a game. Where exactly should fielders be placed? Should the hitter try to hit into the shift? Should the batter bunt? Should the pitcher change his approach? (Sam Miller thinks there are more walks for batters when teams shift because pitchers are nervous about the parts of the field where there are no fielders. And so pitchers unconsciously nibble rather than throwing the ball over the plate.)
Sam Miller concludes his article by eloquently expressing the advantages of shifting for fans. “[Shifting] has added variety and mystery. Teams are finding their own strategies, gambling on these strategies, tinkering with these strategies, differentiating themselves from their peers with these strategies, and then challenging hitters to adapt with their own individual strategies. They’re doing it all visibly, on the screen, so we have something to talk about — and, even with mountains of data, something to disagree over.
Rather than vilifying the shift, [Commissioner] Manfred should be broadcasting the ambiguities of it.”