South Side Sox notes that Brent Morel improved late in the 2011 because he pulled the ball more. I have a friend who believes that any ball hit the opposite way should be an automatic out. If you can’t pull the ball, you’re too wimpy to play. I understand his point of view, but there are certainly situations in which it is better to place a hit than pull a ball into an out. One of the things I admired about Jim Rice was that he didn’t try to pull the ball in Yankee Stadium. While his right-handed teammates hit deep outs to rightleft-center, Jim hit home runs to left of center, a much easier poke.
I’m also a proponent of hitting against the shift. If a team is giving a batter a free base by abandoning one side of the infield, the batter should take it. We know that walking a great hitter every time he comes up is a poor strategy. Conversely, going the other way for a single should be a great strategy.
Yeah, but when you IBB a good hitter, for sure he gets the base. When he hits against the shift, he might fail. That’s a big difference. I don’t think anybody knows how successful a good hitter will be hitting deliberately against the shift, so nobody knows how good a strategy it is.
“I have a friend who believes that any ball hit the opposite way should be an automatic out. If you can’t pull the ball, you’re too wimpy to play.”
Ridiculous — that’s like saying that if a pitcher can’t strike out every batter, he shouldn’t be pitching.
Surely you’ve got that backwards. Left-center was Death Valley, right center much closer.