COLUMN: The shift is on! (Or is it?)
There is something in baseball that has been going on for a few seasons that may be changed with a new rule. Teams are using baseball analytics to position their defensive players in non-traditional areas of the field that as kids, we never would have thought of doing.
Its called the shift, or shifting.
As an example, when teams play against the Cubs, you will see a shift for several Cub batters like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber just to name a few players.
Bryant bats right handed, so you usually see the second basemen move over to the shortstop side of the field. Rizzo bats left-handed so the third baseman and shortstop move to their left. The second baseman then plays a short right field spot. I believe the alignment for Schwarber is about the same.
There has been some talk recently about making shifting illegal or modifying it. I believe by modifying it MLB means you can move your infield left or right but the SS or 2B cannot move past second base or play in the outfield. I totally agree.
I do not like shifting to the extreme that it is used today. I do not think it has added any value to the game whatsoever. That’s my opinion on the matter.
MLB managers are not the first coaches to invent the shift. In fact, the shift first started right here in Monticello at the Lions Little League level. The pioneer of this shift was Ray “Rayzor Ray” Schneider.
The Lion’s league was played with 10 defensive players and four of those were outfielders. Rayzor decided one day to bring the fourth outfielder into the infield and played him right at second base.
It was a move designed to make getting hits harder as most kids at that level were hitting the ball through the hole as opposed to line drives and fly balls into the outfield.
When I first saw it happen, I voiced my opinion to the umps. Their answer was there was absolutely nothing in the rules that said you couldn’t play with three outfielders and five infielders.
Shortly after the game I ask Rayzor for his reasoning behind the shift and he confirmed it was to make it harder for the kids to get on base by a hit. I voiced my opinion that I was against that move for two reasons.
My first reason was that I felt that by putting kids in non-traditional defensive positions we weren’t teaching them the proper way to play defense. I felt part of our jobs were to prepare these kids for the next level and no way were any of these kids going to be standing right behind second base when they started playing in high school.
The second argument was that I felt it was a big disadvantage for the first year players when it came to hitting. Many 4th graders struggled to hit at that level until the end of their season came around.
Somewhere along the line Rayzor agreed with me and the “Monti Barber shift” was short lived. But for the record, I thing Rayzor Ray should be credited with pioneering the infield shift!