May 20, 2007
Kendall Shift
Jacob Lous attended the Oakland game today and sends a word on Jason Kendall:
One of the craziest things to watch in baseball this year is the Jason Kendall shift. His name is announced, and three outfielders instantly start jogging - jogging - to a new spot. I've never seen anything like it.
LF and CF jog 20 feet to the right since he pulls the ball so seldomly, and the rightfielder moves in at least 15 feet. Part of the reason his BA is so low this year is that teams have figured out that a high percentage of his hits come on dinkers to right. With so few XBH, he rarely makes anyone pay by hitting it over their head, and the CF shades far enough to right to prevent a triple if it's hit over the RF's head.
Kendall broke up a no-hitter recently because of this shift.
Posted by David Pinto at
09:04 PM
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Defense
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ok, i saw an interesting shift at the Dodgers-Pirates game earlier this season
it was the last batter, Russel Martin, and the Pirates pulled the centerfielder in to next to 2B, and went with 2 OF
so there was 5 IF, and 2 OF, i can understand since it was basesloaded and wanted nothing to get past, but Martin hit the grand slam to end it
still an interesting shift, like a softball shift
People cite Bret Boone, Ryan Klesko, and Brian Giles amongst others as players who likely achieved what they did with the help of PEDs. How about Jason Kendall? 1-5, 1-6 odds????
