The Shift is Being Banned - How Does This Help/Hurt the O's?

[Riggodrill44]

2 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

This is what I'm curious about. Only 2 players on either side of second base? Only 3 players allowed on the outfield grass?

What about when you’re trying to cut down a runner at home? I’ve seen 4 guys on the dirt, trying to stop a team from scoring.

How does this effect legitimate defenses?

[ShoelesJoe]

2 hours ago, LA2 said:

How will the anti-shift get enforced--umpires eyeballing it, digitally traced lines in some booth?

No infielder allowed to be on (even touching?) the OF grass. Two IF on either side of 2nd base. The team at bat can challenge after the fact if they think a play was made by a fielder out of position. 

[ORIOLE33]

It’s about time. 

[Sanfran327]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

The O’s have a very average mix of RHB/LHB, and they face a very average mix of RHB/LHB.   So, I think this affects them very little.   They will gain a little on offense and lose a little on defense, and it will be about a wash. 

Toronto could be affected a lot.  Their offense is heavily right handed (most in MLB) and so is their pitching staff (they face the third most LHB in MLB).   So, their offense will benefit little from the new rule, but the defense could be negatively affected heavily.  
 

I would think that banning the shift would help LH hitters more than anyone. Mullins, Rutschman, Henderson, Stowers, Santander, Holliday, and Cowser should all be pretty happy about this.

Yes, our defense will have to figure it out as well, but I like our infield defense and LH hitters over the next 6+ years. I think we gain far more than we lose.

[DrungoHazewood]

You all know that the new standard LHH defense will just involve the LFer playing rover in short RF, right?  SS will be an inch to the 3B side of 2B and will still field anything hit up the middle. 

So next year they'll paint circles where all nine fielders have to stand. 

[ShoelesJoe]

6 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

You all know that the new standard LHH defense will just involve the LFer playing rover in short RF, right?  SS will be an inch to the 3B side of 2B and will still field anything hit up the middle. 

So next year they'll paint circles where all nine fielders have to stand. 

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that and haven't seen any such speculation on other boards. It would mean leaving a great big swath of the OF undefended, but it's certainly doable for a team that would be willing to take the risk. 

[Morgan423]

Wait...  isn't there a field rule in the MLB rulebook stating that teams have discretion on the dirt/grass configurations of the infield and how that's all arranged, since prior to now it was more of a stylistic point?  Now, we have a rule stating that infielders have to have some of their feet in the dirt... but isn't that currently different, depth-wise, by field?

Aren't we going to have to standardize the grass/dirt dimensions now?

Edited September 9, 2022 by Morgan423

[Jagwar]

I hate this rule change. Fielders adjusted to the availability of analytics. Hitters need to adjust too. 

Does this mean that

• if a game is tied in the 9th, and the bases are loaded with no outs, that a team can't bring an outfielder in to be a 5th infielder?
• When Adley comes to the plate, teams can't move an infielder to be a 4th outfielder?

[waroriole]

 

[Just Regular]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/sport/mlb-rule-changes-2023/index.html

The CNN piece had a detail I was unsure about regarding this competition committee being created fresh this CBA.    IIRC it was the one where Owners and Players had a few members each, plus one "Umpires" member.

Astonishingly everything the League wanted passed and some Players are upset.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Just Regular

[DrungoHazewood]

14 hours ago, ShoelesJoe said:

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that and haven't seen any such speculation on other boards. It would mean leaving a great big swath of the OF undefended, but it's certainly doable for a team that would be willing to take the risk. 

The diagram a few posts down is going to be commonplace.  Look at Joe Gallo's spray diagram on Statcast.  He basically only hits flyballs to straightaway right and left/left-center.  So you put one outfielder in short right, another in LC, and he may not be helped by this change at all.

We'll see the King Kelly oddness for the first time in forever.  Kelly was a star in the 1800s, and when Bill James was working on the fielding analysis for Win Shares he noticed that Kelly had crazy high assist totals, and weird PO and fielding percentages for an outfielder.  What was happening was he'd be listed in the box score as an outfielder, but would regularly sneak in and play fifth infielder and he ended up with stats more like a second baseman.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, Jagwar said:

I hate this rule change. Fielders adjusted to the availability of analytics. Hitters need to adjust too. 

Does this mean that

• if a game is tied in the 9th, and the bases are loaded with no outs, that a team can't bring an outfielder in to be a 5th infielder?
• When Adley comes to the plate, teams can't move an infielder to be a 4th outfielder?

Yes, and yes.

I don't like your strategy, it negatively impacts me and it's too inconvenient to work around, so please make it illegal.

[Just Regular]

Mateo and Mullins are posting distinctive raw SB totals this season.

If the rules have their effect and they go up a lot in general, I do wonder how far up the Vince Coleman-Willie McGee ladder their numbers could go.

I think a lot of brain cells this offseason will go into protecting player health with large SB attempt volume.    Mateo and Mullins aren't star hitters where the Stop Sign goes up because the Injury Risk is greater than the value of any 90 feet any given day.

Maybe you play 140 games not 155 to keep legs fresh, etc.

Mateo 30/8 SB/CS - the August/September splits are 4/4 and 2/0 so far

Mullins 30/9 SB/CS - they are 7/2 and 1/1

[LA2]

21 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Mateo and Mullins are posting distinctive raw SB totals this season.

If the rules have their effect and they go up a lot in general, I do wonder how far up the Vince Coleman-Willie McGee ladder their numbers could go.

I think a lot of brain cells this offseason will go into protecting player health with large SB attempt volume.    Mateo and Mullins aren't star hitters where the Stop Sign goes up because the Injury Risk is greater than the value of any 90 feet any given day.

Maybe you play 140 games not 155 to keep legs fresh, etc.

Mateo 30/8 SB/CS - the August/September splits are 4/4 and 2/0 so far

Mullins 30/9 SB/CS - they are 7/2 and 1/1

Which could be a reason not to unleash Henderson on the basepaths?

[Jagwar]

37 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Yes, and yes.

I don't like your strategy, it negatively impacts me and it's too inconvenient to work around, so please make it illegal.

Don't misread me. I don't like either strategy, but I at least can understand the risk/reward of a 5 man infield.