Orioles manager Buck Showalter continues to refine his array of defensive shifts — and to wonder why there is any talk of new rules that might restrict the use of them.
SARASOTA, FLA. — He thinks baseball will adjust to the shifts organically and that there is no practical way to stop teams from using them.
"I think that offenses will adjust to some of these defenses,'' he said. "When we start talking about eliminating them and making them illegal, I'm not so sure we shouldn't let the system try to correct itself."
"I'd like to hear the dynamic of how they're going to put that in play. Are they going to put chalk lines and [say], 'You can't go beyond that?' How are you going to [limit] depths?"
New Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said in an interview on "SportsCenter" last month that there might be some consideration of a rule change limiting the scope of play-by-play infield realignment, which is believed to be a factor in the generational lows in average runs and hits per game set in 2014.
American League teams averaged 4.18 runs last season, the lowest since 1981, and 8.66 hits per game, the lowest since 1972. National League teams averaged 3.95 runs and 8.46 hits per game in 2014, the worst since 1992 and 1991, respectively.
A game-wide decline in offensive production coincided with the use of widespread testing for performance-enhancing drugs, but the recent decline in scoring, after it leveled off from 2010 to 2012, has refocused attention on the increased use of defensive shifts.