From: https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/04/22/jay-bruce-retirement-shift-the-opener?fbclid=IwAR05iLb4PfjqKeH2rByMYX75wzoDMK-Deiy_yLdYNmVEOjbWgKr6DB_W2Rg
"The percentage of at bats in which the ball is not put in play (home runs, walks, strikeouts, hit batters) is up to 38%. And in the 62% of at-bats when a hitter manages to put a ball into play, the shift is taking away hits and affecting the careers of players like (Jay) Bruce.
Seven years of evidence is enough. The shift is harming baseball and must go. The career of Jay Bruce—what it was and what it could have been—is the canary in the coal mine. It is too late for Bruce, but not for the next generation of hitters—and fans."
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What say ye, SOSH? I know this topic has come up before, but are shifts actually bad for baseball? Or is it a case where hitters just need to adjust? When teams leave one defender on the left side of the infield, why can't professional hitters learn to slap the ball the other way towards these gaping holes and punish teams for shifting on them? I know it's not *easy*, but why can't it be done? Are left-handed pull hitters simply incapable of adjusting their style? The article talks about how Jay Bruce was driven out of baseball due to the shift. Was he just stubbornly remaining a pull hitter (maybe trying to hit for power by pulling all the time, which is the best way to generate power), even as it cost him his career? Or was he trying to adjust and was just unable?
What's really going on here?
"The percentage of at bats in which the ball is not put in play (home runs, walks, strikeouts, hit batters) is up to 38%. And in the 62% of at-bats when a hitter manages to put a ball into play, the shift is taking away hits and affecting the careers of players like (Jay) Bruce.
Seven years of evidence is enough. The shift is harming baseball and must go. The career of Jay Bruce—what it was and what it could have been—is the canary in the coal mine. It is too late for Bruce, but not for the next generation of hitters—and fans."
- - -
What say ye, SOSH? I know this topic has come up before, but are shifts actually bad for baseball? Or is it a case where hitters just need to adjust? When teams leave one defender on the left side of the infield, why can't professional hitters learn to slap the ball the other way towards these gaping holes and punish teams for shifting on them? I know it's not *easy*, but why can't it be done? Are left-handed pull hitters simply incapable of adjusting their style? The article talks about how Jay Bruce was driven out of baseball due to the shift. Was he just stubbornly remaining a pull hitter (maybe trying to hit for power by pulling all the time, which is the best way to generate power), even as it cost him his career? Or was he trying to adjust and was just unable?
What's really going on here?