Cubs' Jonathan Herrera latest to combat shift via base-running
There was more going on at Wrigley Field on Friday than Kris Bryant's MLB debut.
CHICAGO -- The increasing prominence and frequency of the defensive shift is the source of some hand-wringing in and around baseball. Although the rise of the shift has had a very nominal-at-most effect on run-scoring, the general perception runs counter to that. Generally, we put the onus on the hitter to combat an over-shift -- they should bunt more, at last for purposes of game theory, or learn to hit the other way (as though such a skill that can be just conjured up).
However, base-runners are also capable of striking a blow against the shift, as Mookie Betts of the Red Sox so ably proved earlier this season ...
The next to do so? Jonathan Herrera of the Cubs. In the third inning of Friday's game against the Padres (yes, big-league debutante Kris Bryant isn't the only story from this tilt), Herrera did his level best to get in the head -- and perhaps the craw -- of San Diego ace James Shields. Please regard the following action-technicolor GIFs ...
As you can see, Shields was forced to run Herrera back to third base, as Will Middlebrooks was shifted toward second base against Anthony Rizzo. Next ...
There's Herrera shuffling almost halfway down the line, likely to the mounting annoyance of Mr. Shields. On the next pitch, Shields twirled a wild pitch and Herrera hustled home to score the second run of the ballgame. I don't want to mix up correlation and causation here -- maybe Shields would have bounced that pitch even if Herrera weren't doing unheld base-runner things -- but it's possible all of that played a role.
In any event, there's more than one way to "disincentivize" the defensive shift, and to that end Mr. Herrera did his part on Friday. It's not just the hitter who can encourage the opposition to revert back traditional defensive alignments a bit more often.
