Yankees' McCann trying to change approach to beat infield shifts

Yankees catcher Brian McCann said he has spent the offseason working on ways he might be able to beat infield shifts in 2015, per the New York Post.

“Now that the shifting’s involved, it’s time for me to take a step back and figure out. Now I’ve got to beat the shift,” McCann said Wednesday. “I’ve hit a certain way for nine years. The shift obviously is more advanced. So hits that I’ve always had in the past are now outs. I hit .290, .280, now you’re hitting .240, .230. It’s time for me to make that adjustment, and I went into this offseason, and that’s where I’m at.”

McCann said he has worked on making tweaks to his hitting approach.

“I’m trying to shorten my swing up a little bit, trying to use the whole field,” McCann said. “Not just go up there and look for my pitch. Shorten up sometimes and take that hit to left. The more times you do that, they’ll stop shifting.”

McCann hit .286 with a .358 on-base percentage, .486 slugging percentage and .844 OPS overh is first seven MLB seasons. He has hit .238 with a .305 on-base percentage, .419 slugging percentage and .723 OPS over the last three seasons.