Anybody who watches baseball closely knows that we're living in an era of extreme defensive shifting (an infielder playing in shallow RF vs. lefties, four outfielders, etc). I don't much want to get into a discussion of whether people like it or even how effective it is as a strategy in MLB.
What I wonder is if anybody has seen anything like this in softball, and if not, why not? I wonder if it's a lack of data at the highest levels (we don't have detailed spray charts of even the best hitters in the world). Is it something about the differences in the two games that would make defensive shifts in softball bad strategy?
What kind of shifting have you employed in games? Anything drastic or unusual? I don't think I've seen anything more complicated than a 3B coming in much closer than you'd ever see in baseball. You'll see middle IFs shift a few feet one way or another, OFs will move in or back. But that seems to be about it.
(I once had to have a girl play CF, RF, and 2B at the same time because we only had 7 players, but I'm not sure that qualifies as "shifting" as much as it was "desperately trying to get through the game.")
What I wonder is if anybody has seen anything like this in softball, and if not, why not? I wonder if it's a lack of data at the highest levels (we don't have detailed spray charts of even the best hitters in the world). Is it something about the differences in the two games that would make defensive shifts in softball bad strategy?
What kind of shifting have you employed in games? Anything drastic or unusual? I don't think I've seen anything more complicated than a 3B coming in much closer than you'd ever see in baseball. You'll see middle IFs shift a few feet one way or another, OFs will move in or back. But that seems to be about it.
(I once had to have a girl play CF, RF, and 2B at the same time because we only had 7 players, but I'm not sure that qualifies as "shifting" as much as it was "desperately trying to get through the game.")