Making contact is pretty important if your job is to hit the ball.

I just think putting restrictions on defense (disallowing the shift) or pitching (requiring a pitcher to face a certain number of hitters) goes against the grain of the game. The beauty of baseball is that the rules have remained unchanged for the most part throughout its long history. With a strategic game, smart baseball people will influence how the game is played...hence specialization in pitching and defense which has made offense suffer. Now it's time for the offense to adjust which will mean hitting the ball where they ain't...using the bunt or bat to control to beat the shift and ensure contact with the ball rather than swinging and missing while trying to put one in the seats.

Putting the ball in play.   Obviously striking out 10 times per game while hoping to jack one out isn't putting runs on the board with any frequency.    I don't know if speed will "come back" but putting the ball in play will. 

Watching the shift the Red Sox kept putting on Teixiera over the weekend, I kept thinking that, despite the fact that he's being paid primarily to put the ball in the seats, I'd be perfectly OK with him putting down a bunt down the third base line with no defender there a couple of times a game.  A couple of infield singles every game beats a bunch of ground outs to the 2B playing in short right field and a jack every 5 or 6 games over the long run.

In other words, look for ways to turn an adversity into an advantage.  The teams that are willing to do that will have an advantage over the teams that don't.

Do that often enough, and defenses will start to move away from the shift, thus opening up more of the "pull" side of the field for the hitter in question.

I think it's probably tougher to change the mindset of a mid-30s guy.   If you don't want to learn to bunt, you're not going to be good at it.   But there are probably hundreds of dead pull hitters in the minors who can be told "Son, if you want to make the bigs, you better learn to bunt when they put the shift on." 

The "downside" is that the best way to counteract someone squaring to bunt is to give him up and in.   Probably have few guys get hit in the face.

Nice forecast Mike of guys getting hit in the face. That is a possibility. And if that happens, perhaps the Giancarlo Stanton face protection will become more prevalent equipment on the bathing helmet.

I'm a Yankees fan, but I really cannot stand Mark Teixeira. He is an example of a player who has cashed in and doesn't really care anymore. He has a ring, he has money, and he is just going to do what he wants. Not a good team player. On the other hand, and call me crazy for saying this, Alex Rodriguez I at least have some respect for. ARod had a lot to lose taking PEDs....he lost a year of baseball and a lot of money and respect. Perhaps he did it for selfish and stupid reasons. That I don't know. I don't know the man. But a guy who feels that he needs to take drugs to be a good player ultimately you can say is trying to help his team win. If he gets caught, his team benefits from not paying his salary. If he doesn't get caught, he hits HRs. Would I put ARod in the class of a RIvera or Jeter?? Hell no. But at least the guy cares. Mark Teixeira doesn't give a ****.

I'll take a base hit over an out all day long. I've seen a few players beat the shift or try check swinging the ball to where the fielders ain't and I respect that. I saw Brett Gardner do it the other day. I've seen David Ortiz do it. A hit is a hit and can not hurt your team.

Interesting take on ARod/Texiera.   I've never cared if players took something to make themselves better ballplayers but I've always felt ARod was about ARod.   I've read it many times and have gotten it firsthand from a ST invitee of the Yanks.   He's not well thought of as a teammate.   As for getting caught, the time missed was time the team needed him on the field whether or not it cleared up some payroll.   They obviously built the team with him as a part of it. 

As for Texiera, I certainly have no idea if he gives a ****.    I theorize that he knows he's just a shell of his former self.  I suppose he could try to re-invent himself as a hitter but that might be worse and he just doesn't have that much time left.   He could say "Screw it.  I suck.  I'm retiring" but I think we know virtually no one will walk away from the millions he's owed.

As a Yankee fan, I just have to tolerate both of them until they're gone.

I'm sure you're right about arod. He most likely is all about himself. Still when he used PEDs in 2009 he carried the team offensively. And because of his suspension, the team saved money that it ultimately used to land Tanaka. The Yanks probably would have gotten him anyway but I think arod actually needed the year off to heal his body. Tough to say. Good points Mike--I think the Yanks are going to be a bad team this year...but I'll hold onto hope that they somehow compete.

Tons of "ifs" but "if" they happen, they could compete.     If the starting pitching holds up, they could compete.   If the aging hitters have bounce back years, they could compete.   If they remain relatively injury-free, they could compete. 

I don't see it.  I see a couple, if not more, dark years ahead but they play the games for a reason. 

I believe the problem stems from years of scouting players and supporting the idea that a batter striking out is not a big deal as long as he hits HR's. A extreme example of this was the 2010 Dbacks with M. Reynolds, J. Upton, C. Young, A. LaRoche, K. Johnson. All with over 100 K's, Reynolds with over 200. This all or nothing attitude is IMO what has caused this situation. Not that the pitchers are super great but the hitters can't adjust. I see this attitude in high school games that I've watched recently. I don't know if it will cure itself any time soon.

I remember a day when hitters were embarrassed to strike out 100 types per year. Even pulling themselves out of the last game of the year to prevent 100 K's.

Put the ball in play, good things can happen. Nothing good happens on a strikeout.

SABRmetrics is ruining baseball.

Or at least, it has changed the way the game is being played.

Look at the shifts that are being put on players all of the time now.  The "new" way of thinking, thanks to the reliance on SABRmetrics, is "don't change your approach at the plate, keep doing what you're doing.  The stats back it up."  So now we see players grounding out to short right field.  The old school way of thinking is that if they leave a huge hole on the left side of the infield, with the third baseman playing where the shortstop normally plays, then "hit the ball to the hole on the left side".

Turn adversity into advantage.  If the defense gives you the left side of the infield . . . take it.  Do that often enough, you'll see defenses start to scale back on the frequency or at least the extremity of defensive shifts.

Money.   "They are gonna pay me big money for doing what I do.  Why change it?"

When teams start telling agents "Yes, your client does hit 30 homers every year but he strikes out 120 times and couldn't hit the ball the other way if his momma's life depended on it" then back that up by offering less, you'll see change.

Posted by tecwrg on 4/19/2015 1:50:00 PM (view original):
SABRmetrics is ruining baseball.

Or at least, it has changed the way the game is being played.

Look at the shifts that are being put on players all of the time now.  The "new" way of thinking, thanks to the reliance on SABRmetrics, is "don't change your approach at the plate, keep doing what you're doing.  The stats back it up."  So now we see players grounding out to short right field.  The old school way of thinking is that if they leave a huge hole on the left side of the infield, with the third baseman playing where the shortstop normally plays, then "hit the ball to the hole on the left side".

Turn adversity into advantage.  If the defense gives you the left side of the infield . . . take it.  Do that often enough, you'll see defenses start to scale back on the frequency or at least the extremity of defensive shifts.

You realize that the shifts themselves are an innovation due to analysis, right? But nice troll attempt. Keep up the good work.

Does anybody else remember when Wee Willie Keeler said "Keep you eye clear, and ground out to the second baseman shifted into short right field"?

No, me neither.