Major League Baseball could see a defensive shift ban

Oct 22, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; MLB newly elected commissioner Rob Manfred speaks at a press conference before game two of the 2014 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Rob Manfred has only been the commissioner of Major League Baseball for a little under a day and already, he is nearly as bad as the previous commissioner. The reason, Manfred said he would be open to banning the defensive shift in baseball. To which any normal baseball fan would probably wonder, how in the world do you ban something like a shift? While writers such as Buster Onley and others pointed out the absurdity of the idea.

Banning the defensive shift could improve offense in the game, there is little against that statement because yeah, if you don’t cover the spot where big power hitters end up hitting, they are more likely to get on base. So when Manfred says he wants to “inject additional offense into the game.” banning defensive shifts would do that.

However, there are far too many questions that go into how banning defensive shifts would go. First, how do you decided the space that a player at any position can go? Can they cross into another player’s position if the ball is in play and they get to it first? Are you going to put lines down of the field to show each player the space they get or is it up to the umpires discretion if the rule was followed? What if the player in the field think a batter could be bunting? Can a first or third baseman creep up?

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The idea on its own is honestly a mess. It brings in far too many questions and while Manfred wants to bring in the casual fan, adding more lines and basically restricting players ability to play, is not going to help those casual fans. It has the potential to actually confuse them more and turn them away from the sport of baseball all together.

Also, if something happens at the top of the baseball pyramid, it has to change all the way to the bottom doesn’t it? If you make it so defensive shifts aren’t allowed in MLB, then the minor leagues, college, and even down into little leagues and summer leagues will have to change it. It would be setting off the domino effect and it just seems pointless to do in the long run.

Manfred said he has wanted to get the pace of the game up, he wants to involve youth into getting into baseball more and embrace technology, the use of instant replay, into the game. All great ideas, I can put up with instant replay and getting the pace of the game up, as a fan I can live with that. I like the idea of getting kids involved in baseball more and building a young fan base to continue basically having a fan base.

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Yet, the idea of banning the defensive shift is just a silly thing by someone who only wants to see more offense in the game. Rather than telling hitters “learn to hit the other way if you don’t like the shift” he is willing to give them their advantage back by restricting the play of the guys on the field.

A coach when I was younger told me that good hitters are the ones who can hit anything, anywhere and shifts do nothing for. It is the reason Detroit Tiger’s Miguel Cabrera is such a good hitter. He can hit to anywhere in the field and you just can’t really stop him besides striking him out. David Ortiz, while a good hitter, has defensive shifts used on him because he always hits to a certain side of the diamond. If he wanted to get on base more he would have to teach himself to hit to the other side, eventually they will stop shifting over there.

Getting rid of the defensive shift is a terrible idea, it makes little to no sense and only upsets your long time fans, that support your league and make it as popular as it is. It will be interesting to see what Manfred ends up doing in the long run, I hope that the idea of getting rid of the defensive shift just doesn’t run by players and managers, because then it more than likely won’t happen.

What are your thoughts on banning the defensive shift? Is it crazy? Do you want to see more offense? Let us know below.