Picked-up pieces while waiting for baseball …
▪ There’s considerable push to ban defensive shifts in baseball because, well, hitters are too stubborn to make adjustments. An excellent analysis in The Athletic found many baseball people who want to legislate where a manager can position his defenders.
I say no. There have been nine defensive players on the diamond for more than 150 years. Put ‘em anywhere you want. It’s up to the hitters to figure it out. In the words of Wee Willie Keeler, “Hit ‘em where they ain’t.”
Add Fred Lynn to the chorus of those who think today’s hitters need to stop crying and make some adjustments.
“I believe they shifted on Ted Williams and didn’t he hit .406?” Lynn tweeted this past week.
Lynn’s remark was a response to Joey Gallo’s sob story in The Athletic.
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Sunday, February 27, 2022
DHL Dan CXIX - No Shifts In Baseball?
Without any major news on the pro baseball front, Shank takes a recent Fred Lynn tweet and made a column out of it:
I have to agree with Lynn and others like CHB. If you don't want teams to shift on you, then start putting the ball to every corner of the ballpark. Learn to execute a bunt. Shorten your swing. If you consider yourself a "professional" ballplayer, then invest some of that money you've earned into efforts that you will get you a big return on and off the field.
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