Quote:
Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing
It's an interesting thing. If teams were shifting in the 50's like today and Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle decided to bunt the other teams to death, their value would drop while their BA rose. The shifting team would be happy not to watch their balls fly out of the park. Guys like Mantle and Mays (and now like Giancarlo Stanton) are getting paid to give the fans the most exciting play in baseball - the home run. I hate the strikeouts, but it's still exciting to know teams like the Yankees, Houston, or Boston are never out of a game.
When I played baseball in high school it was expected every player could move a man from second to third by hitting to the right side, or bunt a man to second.
In a funny way the strikeout can be less deleterious to the team than hitting a grounder for a double play.
Hitters often wait for pitches now. If they don't get "their pitch" they may wind up returning to the bench without ever getting the bat off their shoulder. Baseball will never be the same game it was. I guess you either adapt to change or go to another sport.
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The top HR hitters still only hit a HR about once every 15 plate appearances. There have been a few hitters who have bunted against the shift, or were more willing to hit to the opposite field. After a number of times, the shifts stop. They may still be played to pull, but no severe shift.
IMO the game is getting ruined and the obsession with pitch velocity is driving it. It's meant more strikeouts, more walks, more foul balls, more full counts, and some more HRs as well, but all of those factors are prolonging the game. And not only slowing the pace, but less balls in play. While defense hasn't been eliminated, its been diminished. Baserunning has been largely eliminated.
Maybe some day the NFL will be flag football and for MLB they will just have a pitcher, a hitter and a wall with a strike zone marked and if a ball gets hit a certain distance its a double, HR, etc.
