Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell thinks bunting against the shift could be a new weapon for his club. (AP) The Boston Red Sox lineup will have a different look this season with David Ortiz officially retired.*Even with the signing of Mitch Moreland, a potential bounce back season from Pablo Sandoval and a hopeful boost from Andrew Benintendi, the dynamic is going to change and perhaps require more creativity in order to make up for Ortiz’s production.
According to manager John Farrell, the solution might be more bunts.
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We’re being serious about this and so is Farrell. His intention is not necessarily to regularly manufacture offense through bunting. He’ll leave that to the Ned Yost’s of the world. But he believes there’s a time and a place, and that time and place is when opposing defenses employ a shift.
Even the most casual fans nowadays understand the impact shifts are having on the game. Teams are loading up one side of the defense to guard against hitter’s tendencies to pull the baseball. The Red Sox were shifted against in 1,364 plate appearances last season, the seventh-most in the majors, so the idea now is to turn that into an advantage or at least a new weapon.
Here’s more from Farrell, courtesy of the Boston Herald:*
“One of the things that we’ve really seen is that even with guys coming in the first part of their career, guys are really starting to get shifted against when we’re on offense,” Farrell said. “We’ve got some things that we’ll look to do to hopefully take back some of those lanes that are otherwise shifted away from. That’s just becoming more prevalent around the game. The bat-handlers that can work the ball the other way, or who are the guys that can more readily drop a bunt down to take advantage of that shift, that’s one thing that we’ll look to do more of.”
Roughly one-third of last season’s shifts were employed against David Ortiz. With him gone, the Red Sox should see shifting closer to the league average. Still, as Farrell notes, it’s not just happening with power hitters. It’s happening up and down lineups, sometimes depending on a hitter’s recent results and others on the preference of an opposing manager.
“I do, because if the alternative is, the opposition may say, ‘Well, we’re fortunate we got a bunt so it’s working and we’re taking him out of his power swing,’” Farrell said. “But we’re seeing teams shift on guys that aren’t your prototypical power hitters. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit 25 (homers), but that’s kind of a breakthrough year for him. He’s a guy that, to me, we can look to take advantage of and work against the shift to hopefully open things back up for him.
Having hitters in the mindset that bunting isn’t such a bad idea could prove to be a pretty good idea for Boston. Obviously, Farrell will prefer them to swing away most of the time. The*Sox were last in the majors with just eight sacrifices last year, after all, so it’s clearly not a preferred method for him. But that also means any increase will be significant in comparison to last season and seasons prior.
And why not?
When executed, a bunt against the shift is a free base. Also when executed, it will cause the opposition to think twice before employing it again, especially in key situations. Even if it only leads to seeing conventional defenses more often, it could easily prove to be a worthwhile and fruitful endeavor.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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