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A16 SPORTS
Thursday 23 February 2023
MLB curtails infield shift,

hopes for more singles,

speed

By DAVID BRANDT son. One of Major League
AP Sports Writer Baseball’s most visible rule
PHOENIX (AP) — Milwau- changes for 2023 is a limita-
kee manager Craig Coun- tion on infield shifts, which
sell needed to add some had grown exponentially
pop to his lineup a couple and are partly to blame for
years ago, so he put a few a league-wide batting av-
more big bodies in his four- erage drop.
man infield, sacrificing de- The hope is twofold: One, a
fensive range for offensive few more hits for lefty mash-
thump. ers like Kyle Schwarber or
“They combined for a Corey Seager, who were
weight of over 1,000 among those hindered by
pounds,” Counsell said, the shift. And two, stress on
laughing. athleticism and range for
“I don’t think you’ll ever see those playing defense in
that again.” the infield.
There’s little doubt that hid- “I’m sure some guys will like Detroit Tigers infielders Javier Baez, left, and Jonathan Schoop, right, work on drills at second base
ing a couple bulky sluggers it and some won’t,” said during a spring training baseball workout Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, in Lakeland, Fla.
in the infield is going to be former Red Sox second Associated Press
more challenging this sea- baseman Dustin Pedroia, a four-time Gold Glove win- ner. “You’ve got to have range now as an infielder.
Got to be able to catch
the ball. You’ve got to be
quick.
“It’ll be an adjustment for
some guys. It’ll make other
guys better.”
Hitters in the big leagues
had a .243 batting aver-
age last season, the lowest
since 1968.
The new rule states that all
four infielders must have
both feet within the outer
boundary of the infield and
two infielders must be on
each side of second base
when a pitch is delivered.
MLB also mandated infield
dirt have uniform dimen-
sions in all 30 ballparks the
outfield edge must be 95
feet from the front of the
pitching rubber.
A few hitters notably New
York Mets star Jeff McNeil
adapted to exploit the
gaping holes in the infield
shifts with hard-hit balls the
other way. Most stuck to
their modern, pull-heavy
approaches, in part be-
cause pitchers strategized
to make going to the op-
posite field difficult even
big league hitters struggle
to slap an up-and-in 98
mph fastball the other way.
Arizona’s Josh Rojas, a
left-hander hitter, said he
wasn’t particularly worried
about the changes. He
views them as just the lat-
est salvo in ongoing pitch-
er-vs.-hitter battle that’s
ebbed and flowed for
more than a century. q