[DC 86]

Not until the game changes again, the shift goes away and some value returns to making contact.

The effect of banning the shift is going to be minimal, at least based on the BABIP data and when bans have been imposed experimentally.

When I started watching baseball there were numerous enormous multipurpose stadiums with astroturf surfaces. It was essential to have fast fielders, otherwise a routine ball in the gap turned into extra bases. A hard hit grounder had a very good chance of rocketing through the infield, and the outfield fences were far enough to make a pure power approach inefficient. Almost every stadium built in the last 30 years is smaller, and artificial turf is thankfully mostly a thing of the past. Parks an overlooked factor in why smallball has been supplanted by the three outcomes.

[DC 86]

Not until the game changes again, the shift goes away and some value returns to making contact.

The effect of banning the shift is going to be minimal, at least based on the BABIP data and when bans have been imposed experimentally.

When I started watching baseball there were numerous enormous multipurpose stadiums with astroturf surfaces. It was essential to have fast fielders, otherwise a routine ball in the gap turned into extra bases. A hard hit grounder had a very good chance of rocketing through the infield, and the outfield fences were far enough to make a pure power approach inefficient. Almost every stadium built in the last 30 years is smaller, and artificial turf is thankfully mostly a thing of the past. Parks an overlooked factor in why smallball has been supplanted by the three outcomes.