Ortiz Shift

David Ortiz

The Ortiz Shift is an infield shift tactic used in baseball. It was created in 2006 by then Tampa Bay Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon. It is named after former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz, the original batter it was designed to counter.

Tactic

The Ortiz Shift consists of a baseball infield defense, however the shortstop and second baseman move to the outfield between first and second base while the left and center fielder are moved towards the right side of the field with the third baseman going to the left side of the outfield.[1]

Creation

Joe Maddon as the manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays had an upcoming series against the Boston Red Sox in 2006 and was considering a strategy on how to defend against Ortiz.[1] Maddon was cycling on an exercise bike as he looked at Ortiz's sabermetrics and noticed that Ortiz mostly hit to right field and the majority of those hits landed in the outfield. Maddon created the Ortiz Shift to counter it.[1][2] The shift was first used in the Devil Rays' 7–4 loss to the Red Sox on 18 April 2006 at Fenway Park.[2] Though Ortiz was 2-for-5 in that game,[3] the tactic was successful and a number of other clubs employed it against Ortiz, with his batting average dropping from .300 over 2004–2006 to .265 midway through the 2006 season.[1]

Baseball historian Bill James—who worked for the Red Sox at the time—criticized the Ortiz Shift as only working for ground balls and not for home runs, which he described as Ortiz's true danger.[4] Though the shift was mostly used against Ortiz, it has been used elsewhere in baseball.[5]

Counter

The shift can be countered by the batter bunting towards third base, as the third baseman is positioned in the outfield.[6] Ortiz also started to hit more balls towards the left side of the field, taking advantage of the lack of position players in left field.[7] It was stated that a 2015 Major League Baseball proposal to ban defensive shifts would have benefited Ortiz.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Chen, Albert (2006-06-19). "The Ortiz Shift". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  2. 1 2 "Boston Red Sox – Game shifted into the bizarre". Boston Globe. 2006-04-19. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  3. ↑ "Box Score of Game played on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 at Fenway Park". Baseball Almanac. 2006-04-18. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  4. ↑ "Q & A: Baseball Guru Bill James". Time. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  5. ↑ Richard, Mike. "The Sporting Goods: Pursuit of pitching perfection". Barnstable Patriot. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  6. ↑ "Boston Red Sox – Yanked out of first". Boston Globe. 2005-09-29. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  7. 1 2 "Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz could benefit from elimination of defensive shifts". MassLive. 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.