Question for Twins fans
by Matt Swartz on Aug 13, 2010 10:02 PM EDT
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My name is Matt Swartz, and I’m an author at Baseball Prospectus. I’m doing some research on the infield shift (where three infielders play on the right side of second base for a left-handed hitter), and the data is a bit hard to come by. Since I know what a great resource the SBNation blogs are, being a former writer at one myself, I thought that some of you could give me some help.
I am curious who has gotten shifted against on your team MOST of the time, AND who your team regularly has shifted against in your division over the last 18 years. To jog your memory I am listing the lefties and switch-hitters that your team has had in the last 18 years that have hit at least 20 home runs.
Thank you for your help.
LHB
Joe Mauer
Justin Morneau
Jason Kubel
Jacque Jones
Corey Koskie
David Ortiz
Matt Lawton
Kent Hrbek
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They've sometimes had a slight shift the other way for Mauer
Not so sure about Morneau, I don’t think they do
Thome always gets a ridiculous shift
and Tampa Bay put the shift they put on for Thome for Kubel, but no other team has
I couldn’t tell you about the other guys though, that was my pre-analyst days
"Baseball is the only major sport that appears backward in a mirror" ~George Carlin
by thewild_viking_twins on Aug 14, 2010 1:11 AM EDT reply actions
Anyone shifting for Mauer is a damn fool
I saw it a couple times last year when he was hitting a lot of home runs.
I think Ozzie shifts for Kubel with no one on.
Thome
gets a shift every time he bats for us where it is feasible and if I remember right usually had the shift against him when he was facing us. Mauer gets a kind of mini shift defending his normal spots for hitting the ball. Morneau gets played deep not shifted because he is not exclusively a pull hitter.
I am not that familar with the infield shift.
But, from what I seen, the shift is usually to make sure that a double play is forced whenever someone tends to hit toward right field. In a situation where a runner is on first, the batter would hit toward the right field. The second baseman would then pick up the ball and throw it to the shortstop and then the shortstop would then throw it to first to complete the double play. However, I don’t call that a true shift because the shortstop is required to cover Second and third while the pitcher helps to cover first. We are talking a situation where the 1st baseman fields a ball down the line and the pitcher is asked to make the out at first.
If TV would regularly show the defense, I'd have a better idea,
but my recollection is that Thome is always shifted and Mauer, Morneau, and Kubel only occasionally get a less-extreme shift. Mauer I don’t think got one until this year, and I feel like we saw it more early in the season than lately.
Never always
Depends on whether runners are on base and game situation. Thome is usually shifted though, sometimes more extreme than others. Mauer has been shifted but I think they’ve stopped as he has adjusted.
Mauer actually gets shaded a bit up the middle by the SS and 2B this year.
They’re taking away some of his grounders back up the middle. Opposing CF will often shade slightly to the left field side.
The rest of those guys,
apart from Hrbek, were never really dangerous enough over a long period of time to warrant a shift. But that’s completely subjective, because I never actually looked for it with them.
Thome, Morneau and now Kubel
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
+1
here is the best answer,,, all slight to pretty heavy shifts for these guys…
If Carlos Gomez could net J.J. Hardy then Wilson Ramos should have netted at Least Matt Capps...
by SteveHoffmanSlowey on Aug 14, 2010 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Opposing teams
started shifting Morneau before his injury. It was like a less extreme version of the Thome-shift.
This is what interns are for
As the generous responses have already indicated, we Twins fans are quick to generate responses, but come on sir, make the interns mine the data already.
That said, I can’t remember any shifts being more prevalent than when Thome is batting. Ortiz may be worth looking into, but he never had the reputation in MN to warrant a shift. Come to think of it, most of these players didn’t have the reputation as a) dangerous and b) pronounced pull hitters to really warrant a big shift.
I don't remember it for any pre-Mauer guys
Thome gets it heavily, but that’s not new data to you, I’m sure.
I saw it recommended on a blog last year that teams actually should run a double shift for Mauer – shade the outfield to the left but the infield to the right, because he was hitting his flies the other way and pulling grounders. I think it only got used a couple times last year, and I don’t recall by whom. I think this year he gets a bit of a shift, but not the “three IFs on the right side” stuff Thome gets.
I know Lawton, Ortiz (with the Twins), Koskie, and Jones didn’t get shifts, and although I didn’t watch many Twins games during his career, I don’t remember hearing about it for Hrbek.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
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