‘Damn, that should be a hit’ – MLB players sound off on the infield shift –

Anthony Rizzo shook his head, a slight smile on his face, as he stood next to his locker in the New York Yankees’ clubhouse. He’d been asked for his opinion on … the infield shift.

“Looking at the shift doesn’t bother me,” he said. “But hitting into it does.”

Rizzo, a left-hander who is pulling the ball 52.6% of the time this year, has had the defensive alignment used against him for most of his career. But recently, other teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, have taken things a step further by employing four outfielders against the 12-year veteran.

“The four outfielders, I kind of like, because it gives you room to hit a ground ball and get a hit,” Rizzo said. “Then again, I hit a couple balls in the gap against the Blue Jays and I’m headed right to the dugout.”

His sentiments sum up the yin and yang of a word that many hitters — and baseball purists — think should be four letters long. Many a hitter has cursed the trend that has caused them so much angst, ever growing in an era that has seen the use of analytics become commonplace across the sport.

“It’s a credit to how smart the game has become,” Rizzo’s Yankees teammate Joey Gallo said. “And a credit to how good pitching is because hitters are starting to need help now. Offense is at an all-time low.”

That help might be on the way — as soon as next season.

The league is working toward a rule that would regulate the shift — and, for the first time ever, mandate where players besides the pitcher and catcher can stand on the baseball diamond. The expectation is to require two infielders on each side of second base before the pitch is thrown — potentially with all four of them prohibited from starting on the outfield grass.

“The best rule changes are ones that provide the most benefit to the style of play with the least amount of intrusion on competition or disruption to the game we love,” league consultant Theo Epstein said in an email. “Ultimately, the new joint competition…