2019 MLB Season Thread [ARCHIVED] Baseball • Page 1050

Okay. Leonys. I see you.

 

They aren't going to skirt by the division like they thought they would, huh?

 

Leonys Martin just skirted one over the wall on the 2nd pitch.

 

Really happy he's healthy.

 

Can't do much if you are going to call Kluber's slider a strike 6 inches off the plate.

 

I think he's better as a set up guy tbh. I don't like Neshek.

 

also david robertson is good

 

I just remember him having a few clutch years pretty recently as the Yanks closer.

 

Twins are shifting a ton this year, most in all of baseball against RHH

as always, i can copy paste or possibly get a share link for The Athletic articles, as desired

 

Remdog healthy and back in the booth.

 

Gold trim on the Red Sox jerseys is real nice. I always forget how much I like that last season's champions do this at their home opener. It's very cool.

 

this would be a cool one to read, if you don't mind

 

PHILADELPHIA — Whatever you do, don’t ask the Twins coaching staff about their increased use of shifts.

Understand that the topic has been deemed classified and will be kept quiet at all costs. Ask a coach about the rationale behind the team’s dramatic increase and they’re likely to assume a new identity and go underground.

“Nobody in a coach’s uniform is going to talk about this,” bench coach Derek Shelton said with a smile.

You want to talk about chemtrails? No problem. How about a set of keys to a black helicopter? Shelton assures you there’s a better chance of tracking them down within the clubhouse than receiving a quote from a coach about their theory on shifts.

Need access to the Roswell crash landing site?

“That’s in New Mexico, right?” Shelton said. “Ask (Albuquerque native Mitch) Garver.”

What is normally a very conversational team led by manager Rocco Baldelli is involved in a covert operation when it comes to shifts.

Though evidence is mounting and there for all to see, Twins coaches refuse to acknowledge the increase. They’re maintaining a “nothing-to-see-here” mentality despite a surge in the number of detailed shifts employed, but they can’t hide from the watchdogs at Baseball Savant.

Savant’s data shows that the Twins used the shift 28.5 percent of the time last season, the third-most in baseball. Through the small sample size of eight games in 2019, the Twins have increased their shift usage to a staggering 48.8 percent, also good for third in the majors as of Monday.

Even though they acknowledge they don’t have all the answers when it comes to shifting, the Twins are confident they’ve discovered a competitive edge and prefer to keep it quiet.

“There’s very few secrets in baseball,” Shelton said. “But your process of how you do it is something that as an organization I think we feel strongly on that you maintain a little bit of (confidentiality).

“When you have certain things you do and reasons you do them, there’s just not a reason to discuss them publicly.”

Each time José Ramírez faced the Twins on the opening weekend of the season, the switch-hitting Cleveland infielder was met with a different defensive alignment.

Of course, club officials won’t confess to any of this.

The Twins threw a four-man outfield at Ramírez when he batted left-handed that also included second baseman Jonathan Schoop standing in shallow right.

Another version utilized against Ramírez batting lefty resulted in a three-man outfield alignment with three infielders on the right side. The Twins also stationed three infielders on the left side of second base when Ramírez batted right-handed.

The Twins place Schoop on the shortstop side of the bag so often — their 76 shifts in 165 plate appearances (46.1 percent) against right-handed batters leads all teams, according to Baseball Savant, and far outpaces the league average of 13.3 percent — it’s shocking his cover hasn’t yet been blown.

But ask a few coaches why and they’ll convince you it’s all a figment of your imagination.

The Twins shifted against him often enough in the opening series that Ramírez, who finished third in voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award in each of the past two seasons, tried to bunt for a base hit five times in 12 plate appearances in the three-game series.

Though they recognize there are operational flaws (they’re vulnerable to bunt hits and runners racing to bases vacated like Andrew McCutchen did on Sunday), the Twins believe it’s the proper course of action enough that they’ve increased their usage by nearly 20 percent from last season.

They just don’t want to talk about it.

“I didn’t know we were shifting more,” manager Baldelli said in Friday’s pregame media session, somehow keeping a straight face.

The man knows every detail of his team’s strategy down to when designated hitter Nelson Cruz takes his daily pregame nap.

Clearly, he’s in on this.

But as a diversionary tactic, Baldelli switched gears and discussed the preparation the Twins put into playing in the shift this spring. He also acknowledged he thinks the benefit outweighs the potential cost.

“Do I sit here extraordinarily confident in the approach to letting players bunt?” Baldelli said. “No. But I think we’re doing the right thing. That’s why we’re doing it. …

“We’re going to play where we think the ground balls are going to be hit.”

Twins players aren’t as invested in the cloak-and-dagger stuff as the coaches.

Apparently operating without fear of retribution or a blow dart to the neck from Shelton, Schoop openly discussed the message Baldelli’s staff emphasized this spring.

Baldelli joined the Twins after spending 18 of the past 19 seasons in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, which specializes in discovering competitive advantages and knows the value of a good asset.

Though he’s new to managing, Baldelli understands that strong communication with players is critical when asking them to handle big operational changes. The Twins may have been third in the league in shifts implemented in 2018, but they planned to increase that total this season.


The Twins’ typical alignment against right-handed hitters this season. (Baseball Savant)

“(The coaches) talked to you, ‘We’re going to do it,’” Schoop said. “’That’s why you’re working on it.

“’Pay attention because we might switch every pitch. Be ready and you know which pitches you’ve got to go.’”

José Berríos says it’s a well-known fact that his defenders will move into new positions when certain pitches are called versus others. It’s why the Twins might use a four-man outfield against Ramírez for a few pitches and then revert back to a more traditional setup on others.

“We always know where and what pitches they’re going to move,” Berríos said.

But a cursory search for any classified memos or secret documents of such messages from Baldelli’s staff turns up nothing. At this point, they’re likely ash at the bottom of a burn barrel.

Even though the evidence is limited by the eight-game sample size, Baldelli likes how players have performed in the shift. The Twins have the fifth-lowest batting average on balls in play in the league at .257, according to Fangraphs. And if he’s harboring any contempt for his players’ willingness to talk about the confidential material, Baldelli hides it well.

“They’ve played along very well and are very open-minded to some of the suggestions that are a little bit unorthodox and a little different,” Baldelli said. “They’ve not just gone along with them, but kind of embraced what is going on here and they’ve done a great job because it’s not an easy thing to put players in spots on the field that they’re not used to playing in.

“That’s why we spent a lot of time in spring training talking about and working guys in these kind of interesting, different areas on the field. You need to spend time over there before you can just go in the game and expect to make those kind of plays without actually thinking about anything, where it just comes to you. People have played in the same spots for a very long time, so when you do move people it’s different. Our guys have been great.”

Perhaps the reason they don’t want to discuss their strategy is that the Twins think they’re dabbling in psychological warfare courtesy of baseball operations director Daniel Adler’s research and development department.

It’s possible they believe the effects of facing the shift for several days can disrupt an opposing hitter’s timing well beyond that series, similar to when NCAA football teams must prepare to face Navy’s triple option and struggle to recover the week after.

Indians manager Terry Francona saw Ramírez attempt to bunt each time he faced Berríos on Opening Day and several more times in the series. He applauded Ramírez for trying to adapt.

His theory is that if teams take as heavy-handed of an approach as the Twins, it’s up to the player to present his opponents with the consequences. At that point, everything will even out.

“I love the idea,” Francona said. “If they’re going to play him that aggressively, there’s a couple things that have to happen. And I think he’s just going to have to realize he doesn’t have to bunt like he’s bunting. He just has to move the ball that direction, and he can bunt a double. And then what it’ll do is it’ll bring the field back around also, so when he hits, there’s going to be more holes. I like the idea, and he hasn’t quit. …

“I think it’s really going to help him.”


The Twins have utilized the shift third-most of any team so far in this young season. (Baseball Savant)

The Twins don’t mind a bit that Ramírez tried to bunt his way on base. He hit .294/.380/.567 the past two seasons with 172 extra-base hits in 1,343 plate appearances.

Whereas it was a skill you couldn’t live without 30 years ago, modern players have difficulty bunting. Ramírez looked more like a fish out of water than an MVP candidate. He finished the series 1-for-11 with a walk and his struggles have carried over.

As of Sunday, Ramirez has a .493 OPS for the season in 34 plate appearances. He had a .948 OPS combined over the last two seasons.

Denying directives for silence from his coaching staff and the faceless men upstairs, first baseman C.J. Cron brazenly discussed the impact a shift can have on a player’s psyche.

“As a hitter you just kind of stick to your approach and the more you let that get to you, the worse you are,” Cron said. “We shifted Cleveland a few times and a ton of their guys tried to bunt. It takes them out of their game and that’s kind of what you want. Just try to stick to the plan.

“We’ll let (Ramírez) bunt all day long, for sure.”

Baldelli understands risk management. He knows the consequences of shifting can be dire for his pitching staff — it only takes a properly executed bunt or an opposite-field bleeder for an operation to go awry.

“It’s all a great idea until that person pops a ball up just behind third base and the ball falls and he nubs one next at-bat,” Baldelli said. “You can only do what you think is right. But when that stuff works out it’s kind of a thrill for everyone and when it doesn’t work out, it is easy to get frustrated with it too. I can see that.”

With that, Baldelli realized he’d said too much and went silent.

Shelton is quick to inform a curious reporter that no answers regarding the shift will be provided. While Shelton doesn’t directly say that the information “is classified and he could tell you more about increased shifts, but then he’d have to kill you,” the message is implied.

Normally an open book and a wealth of information, Shelton isn’t budging when it comes to shifts. He promises that the staff’s stealthy behavior isn’t the product of a burn-after-reading directive from the front office.

But he won’t confirm nor deny that the league average for shifts utilized is up from 17.4 percent to 24.3 percent. Neither is he impressed by your statistic that the Twins are well ahead of the 40.4 percent league average shifts used against left-handed hitters at 53 percent.

Asked why he can’t discuss the team’s shift policy, Shelton cackles and heads for the nearest exit.

“Don’t put up your recorder for that,” Shelton said.

Shelton shuts down several more attempts to break down the shift before hinting that the only people likely to answer questions are the players, who can provide plenty of anecdotes but no real information.

That the Twins have chosen to closely guard their secrets is no surprise. Clubs often want to protect their sacred proprietary information because they believe it offers a competitive advantage.

Offering some clarity as to why they’ve nearly doubled the amount of shifts they employ could wipe out that advantage. Instead, the Twins have decided to treat their theory like a government secret.

“When you have certain things you do and reasons you do them, there’s just not a reason to discuss them publicly,” Shelton said. “It’s something our guys upstairs worked very hard on. They’ve spent a lot of time on. And out of respect to them and our players and our process, it’s just not something that we feel comfortable discussing.”

 

puig is the best

 

Dick Lovelady! I've been waiting.

 

probably an ignorant question, but why are some ball parks different sizes? like the wall being further back in some places

 

Detroit must have the worst outfield in the league, right?

 

AAA Home Run Derby in Detroit today.

 

What is a Field Dimensions? | Glossary

No Major League ballparks are exactly alike, but certain aspects of the field of play must be uniform across baseball.

The infield must be a square that is 90 feet on each side, and the outfield is the area between the two foul lines formed by extending two sides of said square (though the dirt portion of the field that runs well past the 90-foot basepaths in all Major League parks is also commonly referred to as the infield). The field must be constructed so that the bases are the same level as home plate.

The rulebook states that parks constructed by professional teams after June 1, 1958, must have a minimum distance of 325 feet between home plate and the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right- and left-field foul lines, and 400 feet between home plate and the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction in center field. However, some clubs have been permitted to construct parks after that date with dimensions shorter than those specified.

The pitcher's plate must be a 24-inch by 6-inch slab of whitened rubber that is 10 inches above the level of home plate and 60 feet, 6 inches away from the back point of home plate. It is placed 18 inches behind the center of the mound -- which is erected within an 18-foot diameter circle -- and surrounded by a level area that is 5 feet by 34 inches. The slope of the pitcher's mound begins 6 inches in front of the pitcher's plate and must gradually decrease by 1 inch every foot for 6 feet in the direction of home plate.

Home plate is a 17-inch square of whitened rubber with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8 1/2 inches each and the remaining two sides are 12 inches each and set at an angle to make a point. The 17-inch side faces the pitcher's plate, and the two 12-inch edges coincide with the first- and third-base lines. The back tip of home plate must be 127 feet, 3 and 3/8 inches away from second base.

The other bases must be 15-inch squares that are between 3 and 5 inches thick, covered by white canvas or rubber and filled with soft material.

 

Yo, the Blue Jays just stole home on Chris Sale... when it rains it pours.

 

This sucks.

 

I can't think of another MLB team that goes worst-to-first and first-to-worst more often than the Red Sox