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Do you think the shift in baseball should be banned?

I like the minor league initiative they have started this season. You can shift, but all infielders must have one foot on the dirt when a pitch is thrown. So, you can shift into the 4 hole all you want or have all four IF on one side of the field, but you can’t play short RF and eat up the scorched ground balls hit by LHH and still throw them out. You’re either going to wear it to stop the ball or they can’t a play on the sharply hit balls, just like would be the case with no shift at all.
 
I like the minor league initiative they have started this season. You can shift, but all infielders must have one foot on the dirt when a pitch is thrown. So, you can shift into the 4 hole all you want or have all four IF on one side of the field, but you can’t play short RF and eat up the scorched ground balls hit by LHH and still throw them out. You’re either going to wear it to stop the ball or they can’t a play on the sharply hit balls, just like would be the case with no shift at all.
Bottom line is the hitters need to get better. There is no reason to mess with the rules of baseball yet again.
 
Hell no. The easiest way to beat any shift is to lay a damn bunt down. There's no reason Freeman or Albies shouldn't be able to lay a bunt down 3rd when other teams put the shift on. It's a huge part of the game that Snitker and the Braves refuse to utilize. Small ball is the purest form of baseball.
although this is true, the problem with this idea is, if a guy like Freddie Freeman hit .700 on the season by bunting every at bat, the opposing teams will have been successful in what they’re trying to accomplish with the shift.
Freeman hit .341 last season while facing the shift. Bottom line, hitter can hit. Let the defense play wherever they want to play.

Also, for guys saying, “they should just hit it the other way”, major league pitching is hard enough to hit. The league is hitting .234 this year. Seems like every guy that walks to the mound now has a 97mph fast ball and sharp cutter. Taking a major league pitch that paints the inside black, the other way is a lot easier to talk about than to actually do.
 
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Bottom line is the hitters need to get better. There is no reason to mess with the rules of baseball yet again.
They have gotten better. But it’s not in the average department. Power numbers are way up. Power pitching and power hitting is the name of the game right now. And that’s what is getting players paid. More velo and more power hitting numbers.
 
They have gotten better. But it’s not in the average department. Power numbers are way up. Power pitching and power hitting is the name of the game right now. And that’s what is getting players paid. More velo and more power hitting numbers.
If your advocating to fundamentally change the game simply because the hitters can’t hit to all fields or even lay drown a drag bunt when half the infield is wide open then they aren’t better hitters. It’s a disgrace.
 
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People arguing that you should learn to hit to both sides of the field don't seem to understand the direction you hit the ball is dependent on the location of the ball in the strike zone. For instance, if the infield shifts right, a pitcher can throw every pitch inside to a lefty or outside to a righty and make it impossible for the batter to hit it to the left side of the field.
The pitcher can do that....But they don't. Batters continue to try to pull balls on the outer half of the plate and round over the ball with a grounder to the infield. Most MLB pitchers now throw above 90 mph with very average locating ability at that speed. For the most part it is not pitching it is flame throwing.
 
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I’ve got a crazy idea. Enforce the foreign substance rule with pitchers.

Spin rate is much more damaging to batting averages than velo. Batting averages are down, strike outs up, hbp up and most importantly imo, balls in play are way down. Focus on launch angle contributes to this too but the super spider stickem affects the game more than moving the mound, shifts or peds.
 
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I’ve got a crazy idea. Enforce the foreign substance rule with pitchers.

Spin rate is much more damaging to batting averages than velo. Batting averages are down, strike outs up, hbp up and most importantly imo, balls in play are way down. Focus on launch angle contributes to this too but the super spider stickem affects the game more than moving the mound, shifts or peds.
I agree with you but doing this is much harder to enforce. Spin rate is like Aero in racing. The smallest difference has a big effect.
 
People arguing that you should learn to hit to both sides of the field don't seem to understand the direction you hit the ball is dependent on the location of the ball in the strike zone. For instance, if the infield shifts right, a pitcher can throw every pitch inside to a lefty or outside to a righty and make it impossible for the batter to hit it to the left side of the field.
Not 100% true. If that were the case they would shift for every batter based on how they want to pitch him. Certain hitters are known to not be able to hit opposite field at all.
 
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