Rob Manfred has brought up the possibility of banning defense shifts in the major leagues.
The commissioner’s rationale is that forcing defenses to play straight up would produce more hits, which in turn would produce more action. In 2018, there were more strikeouts than hits for the first time in major league history, and Manfred believes that was a factor in attendance and television ratings falling.
However, Clint Hurdle respectfully disagrees with the idea.
“If there ever gets a day where they ask me what I think, and there may be, I don't have it in my DNA to say, ‘No, we can't have the shifts,’” Hurdle said earlier this month during the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas.
The Pirates were one of the first teams to frequently use shifts. It helped them make three straight postseason appearances from 2013-15 as they built a pitching staff consistently primarily of sinkerballers who could induce ground balls at an above average rate.
Though they have been shut out of the playoffs the last three years, the Pirates continue to rely on the shift. According to Baseball Info Solutions, the Pirates shifted 1,395 times in 2018, which was second in the National League to the Brewers’ 1,462 and seventh in the major leagues. The Rays topped the big leagues with 1,861.
The Pirates’ analytics department was at the forefront of the shift movement. Now, the challenge is to find new tactics.
“I’m curious on what's the next smart play,” Hurdle said. “In my gut of gut, my first initial reaction is like, these hitters need to figure some things out and attack it from that standpoint.
“We talk to our guys how it's just like they pitch you for a reason. They feel you've got some weak spots, and they want to isolate that, and you want to work to your strong spots. Let's work to the strong spots to try to get the third infielder on the right side of the infield, get him back over to shortstop and open up some ground. We'll see where it all goes.”
Many baseball people believe making more consistent contact would cause shifts to decrease.
Though they finished 19th in the major leagues in runs scored with an average of 4.30 a game this year, the Pirates were the fourth-toughest team to strike out with 7.6 punch-outs a game. Ahead of them were the Indians (7.3), Astros (7.4) and Mariners (7.5).
Just three Pirates reached triple digits in strikeouts – Gregory Polanco (117), Starling Marte (109) and Josh Bell (104). For comparison’s sake, 153 players struck out at least 100 times across the major leagues. The White Sox’s Yoan Moncada led the majors with 217.
“I still think it's important,” Hurdle said of avoiding strikeouts. “I do think there's a time when our game is going to re-calibrate itself. If you average nine as a team, you’re watching the other team play catch for three innings. It's hard to win a ballgame where the other team plays catch for three innings.
“Putting the ball in play, you make people make plays. And sometimes you find holes. So, I do believe that there still is value in that.”
Many hitting coaches advocate using the entire field to beat the shift. However, Hurdle says that being able to hit to the opposite field is not as easy for a player as it might seem.
“It’s the way they've been raised,” Hurdle said. “More often than not, it’s about what they've grown up learning. Who's doing the teaching? What results are they looking for in the leagues they're playing or the showcase camps they're going to? What are scouts looking for? What are they being graded on?”
Hurdle, though, believes hitters are slowly starting to understand the benefits of not trying to pull every pitch.
“There's some things we're holding on to and we're leveraging, and good things are happening,” he said. “But you'll see pitchers fight back. It used to be pitch the ball down. Now, it’s pitch the ball up. But, I still think a hitter learning how to be a hitter would be the best way to get the shift back to playing straight-up defense.”