Yankees Manager Joe Girardi Wants to Ban Shifting

Yankees manager Joe Girardi has had it with shifts in baseball. If he were the commissioner, he would have it banned.

New York Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, says that he would “absolutely” ban shifting in baseball if he were the commissioner. Frequent viewers of Yankees games may notice that they get shifted, and put the shift on quite often.

Over the last three seasons the Yankees have been shifted against over 1,000 times more than any other club. Their .269 average is the worst over that span.

“It’s illegal defense, just like basketball,” Girardi said. “Guard your man. Guard your spot. If I were commissioner, they’d be illegal. As long as it’s legal, I’m gonna play it.”

This season, the Yankees are fifth in baseball in amount of times they have shifted. While they shift a whole lot, it doesn’t seem to be effective. Opponents have the fifth highest batting average (.330) against the Yankees when they decide to shift.

The most frustrating “shift moment” for Joe Girardi may have come on Monday night against the Texas Rangers. Nathan Eovaldi had a no hitter through six innings in Arlington. Nomar Mazara hit a routine ground ball to where the shortstop would have normally been playing, but the Yankees elected to shift on Mazara which led to a base hit.

“I just think the field was built this way for a reason,” Girardi said. “Two on one side, two on the other.”

While the Yankees have been awful on both sides of the shift, the ball that Mazara hit to break up Eovaldi’s no-no may have been the ‘straw that broke the camels back’ for Joe Girardi and this defensive alignment.

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If Joe Girardi ever becomes the commissioner, he has his first move mapped out. Until that day, he and the New York Yankees will have to deal with the shift, and maybe find a way to get it to work to their advantage.