Retired Goes Frazier

[G-Fafif]

Todd Frazier has announced his retirement from baseball.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I liked Todd Frazier the dude more than Todd Frazier the signing. He was exactly the player we all thought and knew we'd be getting but he seemed fun and pretty damn likeable. I always called him Big Dog after he started calling everyone Big Dog because in Henderson-adjacent fashion, he couldn't remember anyone's names. That's pretty funny.

[Edgy MD]

His bunt against the shift rolling unmolested into the outfield is something I'll remember until my always.

[A Boy Named Seo]

He probably grinned a huge grin like the overgrown little leaguer that he was.

[roger_that]

Edgy MD wrote: His bunt against the shift rolling unmolested into the outfield is something I'll remember until my always.

Never happened. It's just too hard for MLBers to bunt vs. the shift, given the unhittable nature of current MLB pitching, and anyone who says that MLB batters can place bunts into undefended parts of the infield is just an old delusional dreamer lost in his fantasies of old-time baseball that never was in the first place.



Or so I hear from defenders of The Shift.

[Edgy MD]

I'm a defender of the shift. I just celebrate the idea of combatting it with stragery instead of banning it.



[media=youtube]tZEok91P5w8[/media]

[roger_that]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm a defender of the shift. I just celebrate the idea of combatting it with stragery instead of banning it. [media=youtube]tZEok91P5w8[/media]

Oh, me too. I just despise the argument that bunting's too hard a skill to acquire, current pitching is too hard for anyone to bunt against, or that anyone who tried to bunt against the shift would end up with a .200 OBP. To me, if someone's willing to give you a single (I figure at least 40% of the time), you take it and say "Thank You!"

[roger_that]

Actually, what I really don't get is why guys don't try to hit a grounder to third, as opposed to a bunt. A medium two-hopper to 3B, normally an easy 5-3, could easily turn into a double against the shift, and isn't that much harder to do than bunting a ball in that direction.

[Edgy MD]

That happens too. But unfortunately, as effective as it might be, when a guy pulls it off, he gets a pat on the butt and then the team forgets about it for two weeks, when they should do it over and over again until the shift is finally abandoned..



[media=youtube]NDo7b53oP_A[/media]



But back to the topic, Todd Frazier = Kelly Leak.



[media=youtube]mdP496D3le0[/media]

[Benjamin Grimm]

Edgy MD wrote: That happens too. But unfortunately, as effective as it might be, when a guy pulls it off, he gets a pat on the butt and then the team forgets about it for two weeks, when they should do it over and over again until the shift is finally abandoned..

I absolutely agree with this, but it just doesn't seem to be happening. It's strange that teams that are "smart" enough to implement a shift aren't also smart enough to beat it.



I've come around to accepting the idea of banning the shift. It's not going to go away organically any time soon, and in the meantime it's making the game that much less entertaining to watch.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Just an ugly one-handed swing. Not a bad player overall and obviously bowing out at the right moment.



Don;t ban the shift. Eventually the pendulum will swing back

[roger_that]

Maybe we need more motivation than a simple pat on the butt? Very entertaining clips, thanks.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe a complex pat on the butt? I'm not sure what that would look like, but it might not be appropriate for viewing by underage fans.

[Gwreck]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm a defender of the shift. I just celebrate the idea of combatting it with stragery instead of banning it.

This is 1000% correct.