Baseball is becoming more and more scientific, and one of the best ways to see this is to watch how a team handles a batter. It used to be a pitchers job to know how a hitter hits, but know the entire team must know not only how a hitter hits (or doesn't) but also where a hitter hits. In different situations. With different pitch counts. It's crazy! This article (and the accompanying pieces -- check out the more heading a few scrolls down) gets into some of the nitty gritty of the game. This article satisfies my inner stats geek, my tactician, my desire to quantify the unquantifiable.
You wrote some amazing responses to the Bryce Harper piece, looking for the same ideas here. What did you learn. What's new? What's your take-away? I know we don't all look at baseball the same way, but I do believe there are some gems in here for everyone.
And for those moments (Wes) when you want to procrastinate, here are some nice close-ups from spring training. I hope you can get over the fact that the players are Dodgers. The pics are pretty cool.
Even better procrastination material: Roy Hobbs lives! And he's a Brewer. This is crazy! Nuts! Wild!
I really enjoyed this article. I have always noticed how teams shift their defenses when certain batters come up to bat, but never really knew how important these shifts were. I know that for powerful hitters, the outfielders will move further back and for weaker the opposite, but I never really knew about how much they shifted left or right. Now, looking back at games I guess I see how they would shift left or right for certain hitters and it makes sense. Hitters are more likely too pull a ball and therefore there is a greater chance of getting them out if the players shift according to which side the batter is batting from. However, I did not know that defensive players would shift based on the ball or strike count. I find that crazy! That shows how statistical baseball has become and how much more managers and analysts really break down the science of the sport to get more outs.
ReplyDeleteLast week I actually saw something I have never seen a baseball team do before. It was when the Giants were playing the Dodgers in San Francisco and the Dodgers had a crazy formation. It was a really close game and the Giants had the bases loaded with only 1 out and all of a sudden the Dodgers sent their center fielder into the shortstop. I heard the announcer say that they did this because the Dodgers pitcher was a pitcher known for getting ground balls and so they wanted to try and crowd the infield to make sure if a ground ball was hit it would not go into the outfield. However, there were only 2 players in the outfield! It was really sad but sort of funny because the Giants ended up not scoring any runs and actually popped out twice in a row. Even though this shift really didn't have much of an effect, I thought it was really interesting to see how the Dodgers shifted their defense in a certain situation.
The shifting, defensive aspect of baseball is often overlooked. The average person usually only relates defense in baseball with the pitcher, catcher, and live-ball plays. The behind the scenes defensive shifts have clearly made an impact recently in baseball and for some teams such as the Pirates, has saved them a projected 77 runs! This amount of runs can most definitely decide many games for them, and prove to be a difference maker in their run to make the playoffs. I really enjoyed the comparison to football. Baseball is often thought of a sport that is completely it's own, embracing its unique qualities. However, the newly adopted defensive strategy of many MLB teams can be compared to those defensive formations seen in football. Baseball teams have even hired "defensive coordinators". It amazes me how things that seem as insignificant as the pitch count can effect the entire defensive strategy for certain teams. These recently discovered nuances in baseball provide such an interesting view on that adaptations of baseball that it reminds us that it is very much a modern game.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to last weeks article but even more so this week, I was shocked by the science behind defense in baseball. Defense is not just about having one player in right field, one in center, and one in left, but it is much more complicated than that. Depending on hitters, teams shift their outfield to ensure the best possibility to make the out. It is interesting that statisticians can say that shifts saved runs because although someone might be able to say that if the player weren't in the position where the ball went, then they wouldn't have gotten the ball, but what about all the times that players shift and the ball goes where the player would have been had he not shifted? Even though I believe that shifting defense in a way that is done in football is more effective in preventing runs, I find it difficult to believe that it can be written as a stat. Another thing that I learned from reading this article is the addition of the short stop. Although it does not surprise me that the short stop was an addition to the game of baseball because the game is constantly changing, I didn't know the reasoning behind the addition and the history of it. The history of the shortstop is an interesting one because although it started as a position in closer to the outfield, it changed to one that was more of an infield position. This is an interesting concept because it a long term example of the shifts that happen in the game today.
ReplyDeleteSandy Schenker:
ReplyDeleteI really liked this piece and learned a ton. I didn't realize before reading this article that major league teams were shifting more and more in recent history. I have always liked the strategy aspect of baseball, whether it be a hit and run, suicide squeeze, etc, and now this defensive positioning adds a whole other aspect to the strategy of baseball. I also didn't realize before reading this that there was a certain percentage, 80, that warrants a shift. The last major thing that I loved that I learned was that often times shifts depend on the count, which makes sense but I had never thought of. My main take-away from this article is how I find it amazing that a sport as old as baseball can still have significant changes in the way it is played.
One of the most surprising things I learned from this article was the fact that the defense aspect of baseball, in particular the positioning of players, didn’t change drastically for more than a hundred years. Today it’s like a horserace, the players and coaches are betting on a hitter's past in order to try and beat the odds, and the teams that aren’t adapting to this new system are suffering. I liked how the article talked about the game between the Rays and the Orioles when the Rays were implementing their system of shifts. In the cases they discussed, neither ended up working, but not just because of the positioning of the players. The errors are what hurt the team, not their altered defense. The overloading of one side of the field may look strange or out of place now, but it’s the future of baseball. With all the technology they use now, algorithms can predict tiny details that change the way the game is played. Now I’m going to look for those subtle shifts in the defense because if the teams don’t take the risk of playing the odds, it seems to me like they’re more likely to lose.
ReplyDeleteYou wrote some amazing responses to the Bryce Harper piece, looking for the same ideas here. What did you learn. What's new? What's your take-away? I know we don't all look at baseball the same way, but I do believe there are some gems in here for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe craziest quotation I got out of this article is that:
"Major League teams "shifted" 8,134 times last season, compared with just 2,357 in 2011." That is an insane increase! I never realized that these shifts were documented and actually led to results!
I never looked at "shifts" and runs saved before. This is all new information to me. I still don't wan't to believe it because I usually think I have a good knowledge of sports, especially baseball. The interesting thing though with having the average of runs saved being 0 is how can that be the case if there are more than 0 runs for a team being saved because I can not comprehend there being negative runs being saved...?
I also didn't realize that they first started out with 8 players, not using the shortstop until they realized that they needed a layoff guy into the infield players. I couldn't imagine a huge gap between third and second, so many baseballs must've been hit through there before the shortstop position was invented.
One of the coolest things in this article is how the field shifted around not only depending on the batter but the count.I never knew their was so much detail to each batter appearance!
This was a very cool article with so much information I have never heard of or thought of before!!!
I thought one of the most interesting parts of the article was when it was saying that baseball is becoming a lot more like football. I had not thought about it this way, but it is true that baseball has recently added instant replay, had an increased focus on defense, and has teams adding "defensive coordinators" to their staffs.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that while there are more resources available today in order to know the tendencies of opposing hitters, there is more expected of players defensively and "big-league fielders are relearning positions they've practiced since they were kids." This idea reminded me of the scene in "Shoeless Joe" when Ray is watching Joe in left field and admiring his quick feet and how he anticipates where the hitter is going to place the ball before the ball contacts the bat. I think that in the past, this was the idea of a defensive natural, someone who should be able to anticipate where the ball will be hit. Today, however, this is expected of everyone on the field (with the help of research and stats on specific players).
I think the idea of shifting your outfielders to either the right outfield or left outfield is genius and even a bit humorous. I have never thought of baseball as a defensive sport since most of the attention is on the hitting and pitching. However, as technology advances in the game, so does the style. The fact that there is more advanced computer-imaging and tracking of every play, teams are able to better prepare for hitters that consistently hit in one place. When I read the first couple of paragraphs, my first thought was that a shift would be easy to beat. Can't the hitter just hit it to the open space? However, it seems like they are most interested in just making contact than really directing the ball into a specific place. I think this is another great example of how baseball is changing with the time, especially with technology as the driving force.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole idea of "shifting" is really interesting and can definitely be noticed in the game nowadays. The fact that teams have to be familiar with all the players past hits though is really astounding. It's a lot of knowledge to be familiar with, especially when they have to focus on so many other things. The photo in the article was really fascinating I thought. Showing all the players moving to one side yes shows the comical side, but also shows the fact that it could cause problems for the defensive side. If all the players shift to the area that they think the batter is going to hit to, it could cause for a bad play if they shift too far or too many shift to a general area. Each position is where it is for a reason, and is the idea of "shifting" changing the game of baseball. Does it cause for easier fielding and too many short cuts? Although it seems necessary to me it also seems like it takes some of the fundamentals out of the game.
ReplyDeleteThe upward trend in “defensive shifting” comes as a result of the tremendous increase in technology’s role in strategizing. The sheer number of cameras present on the field allows coaches to analyze player performance in far more detailed ways than ever before. I have always put thought into how much research each player must put in to have optimal understanding of each of his opponents. That said, I have not really evaluated the extent to which the players must act on this information. On another note, it was interesting to read about the controversy surrounding the idea of “shifting.” The Pirates are taking full advantage of this technique while other teams, such as the Cardinals, are more skeptical. The St. Louis coach makes a good point as he says, “Just because a guy has done things against other teams doesn't necessarily make up our mind." His comment made me curious about how much a player’s performance is influenced by the layout of a field.
ReplyDeleteI was able to connect a lot with this article. Playing little league for about 10 years we would always know who hit well and when to play in and when to play farther out. Even though this is just the basics of what the article talks about, I believe that it is an important aspect to baseball and that it has been overlooked by many in the past. I was honestly surprised to hear that other people were surprised that teams had specific fielding arrangements for specific batter and counts because as so much of the focus these days is on boosting offense (strong batting, more power, steroids, etc) it seems that the defense side of things deserves an equal amount of evolution. Regardless of current technology and comparison to other sports as mentioned in the article, I think that the fundamental surrounding a skilled baseball team sit with the defense and it is extremely important to have a defense that is easily able to adapt to any given scenario in order to maximize success.
ReplyDeleteI have never been one to notice pieces of strategy like shifting. So it was interesting to be introduced to this concept at all, but the fact that it is becoming more prevalent is the most eye opening. This signals a huge change in the way the game is played. I never took into account strategy as something so crucial to fielding. I always just pictured players evenly sprinkled around the outfield and then playing as best they can to get the out. The fact that there is this big shift in how the game is played is telling of the sport. For fans, the game is often all about the stats and it is cool to think that you now have stats being used by the players to drastically shift the way the game is played. The game is becoming far more technical now that the level to which stats are recorded is becoming so intricate. Baseball always seemed to me like a game you play through instinct and talent so it is crazy to hear these players and coaches talking about how they are just playing by the numbers.
ReplyDeleteI have always been aware of the classic shift, like we used to see for, speak of the devil, Barry Bonds, and today for players like Big Papi. But even as I would notice, i just assumed the manager gave some sign that players would interpret, and never would have imagined the immense preparation even the average field player has to do. This also made me reconsider how I viewed Baseball in relation to other sports and the amount of commitment necessary to succeed. For me I always think of the major preparation sport being football, but after this article I think Baseball may actually be able to rival it on a very poorman's basis,
ReplyDeleteI was unaware before this article that shifting had become so popular over the last several years. I remember as a kid, I would always see teams shift for homerun hitters like Ortiz and Gonzalez. However, I never knew that teams like Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay were using it more frequently and not with just your typical homerun hitter. I think this new defensive strategy of shifting is a great example of how technology in the 21st century is having an amazing impact on sports. Over the last ten years not only in baseball but in the major sports in general technology has changed how we play and prepare for sports substantially. Replay, game tape and video instruction would not be around if it weren’t for the massive advancements we’ve made in the technological world over the last 15 to 20 years. Although, this is amazing It causes me to wonder if its making the game to dry. I think what makes sports so unique is the unpredictability of them. However, with all this new found technology its making it harder to achieve, what some would call luck but what I would like to call magic. It almost feels robotic and some ways and to though out. Part of the reason we play sports is because its loose and fun. I think bringing technology into the game can cause us to lose some of that.
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DeleteThis was a pretty interesting article! I found that I could relate to how teams have started to shift on the field because of my experience in sports like football. The optimal positioning coaches have player do according to the hitter definitely adds a defensive aspect to baseball that i Never really thought about.Additionally all the calculations that teams do in order to make informed decisions about their positioning is pretty cool due to the fact that it is creating new methods for playing America's favorite pastime.
ReplyDeleteAs a number aficionado this article was really appealing to me in how mathematical and statistical it was. By describing the changing tendencies of the players each year with stats I got a much clearer idea of just how important and tangible the tactic is in baseball. After reading the article I initially felt a strong impulse of skepticism; how could a team of baseball players possibly memorize the hitting tendencies of each player on each strike? I am still kind of skeptical of this, but I also know that as a person who has dedicated his life to baseball it would probably be more feasible than I am guessing for a member of a team to memorize these plays.
ReplyDeleteI am all for the rise in shifts in the majors. I think that if it works they should do it, even if it seems weird. Baseball is all about finding those little advantages that can help you win and defensive shifting should be included in this. For me the best thing about shifts is that they're beatable, and it takes discipline and sacrifice to do it. If a big-swinging lefty can hit a dinky base hit away from a hit he is automatically my hero. As a player I try and survey the field and find the gaps, but it is hard to do, especially in tight games when you want to get big hits. Shifting just adds a little bit more drama and challenge to the game and I'm all for it.
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