Ah, shift

The infield shift

Shifting has been the rage in major league baseball for a couple of seasons. That's not news to baseball fans. You can't watch a game without seeing some team utilizing the shift.

The shift is not a new tactic. Putting three infielders on the right side of the diamond against left-handed pull hitters is an old maneuver. Power hitters like Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey faced the shift more than 40 years ago. Heck, Babe Ruth likely had to hit against the shift at some point.

But the current version of the shift, in which the second baseman plays well into shallow right field and the shortstop is swung around somewhere close to second base, is somewhat new. The old shift simply moved the infielders toward first base instead of moving the second baseman into the outfield.

There are more shifts than ever being used in the majors, which gives credence to its legitimacy as a staple of baseball. The Pirates, by the way, use the shift more often than all but four others teams.

The shift seems to have "shifted" to the Frontier League. Jeff Isom, who was managing Lake Erie last year, used the shift extensively with the Crushers. As manager of the Joliet Slammers this year, Isom used the shift against Washington's William Beckwith. Stewart Ijames and C.J. Beatty also have had to hit against the shift.

Even the Wild Things have used the shift, proving that manager Bart Zeller is not too old to change.

"If you have your head stuck in the sand and continue to play old-school baseball, then you're going to discover that it's like running the 100-yard dash in snowshoes. You'll never catch up with the other guys," Zeller said.

So when should a team shift its infield?

Zeller says look at the spray charts for a hitter and then shift against those who pull the ball at least 80 percent of the time.

"If you know you're going to be right 80 percent of the time, then you're better going with the shift," he said. "You might look terrible if the hitter puts down a good bunt or goes the other way for a hit, but if you're right 80 percent of the time ...

"This has nothing to do with sabremetrics. Baseball comes down to playing the percentages."

The Wild Things used the shift against Traverse City's Yazy Arbelo last week, with some success. Arbelo went 3-for-13, including 1-for-8 over the last two games of the series.

Washington's defensive alignment was not as much of an overshift as what we saw from Joliet. Wild Things shortstop Garrett Rau played in the middle of the diamond against Arbelo, but on the third-base side of second.

The one change in strategy that comes with playing the shift is in pitching. Your pitcher often has to pitch to the hitter's strength. In other words, you pitch the hitter inside so that he can pull the ball into the shift. Pitching him outside invites the batter to go the opposite way, where you have only one infielder.