By the way, I'm not saying bunting in these situations, although that's one way to do it. But you can let up on your swing and go the other way without bunting.

 

He doesn't even have to let up on his swing. Just taking the ball the other way could destroy the shift.

Adam Dunn's hit chart this season. He does occasionally slap it to left for a base hit.

Man he gets out alot in short right. I wonder how many are the 2B and how many are the RF.

Man he gets out alot in short right. I wonder how many are the 2B and how many are the RF.

I'd wager 90% are the 2b hit into the shift.

One thing to keep in mind is even if he wants to hit the ball to LF, when there's a radical shift, he's going to be pitched to accordingly. Unless a big mistake is made, he's not going to be given something that can easily be slapped the other way. He can hit the ball to LC very hard, but I don't think he hits ground balls to the left side much. They used to shift for Baines on the infield, but the OF would play him to hit the other way.

 

With the little contact Dunn makes, I think most teams would take a single to LF over a homer.

Edited July 9, 201213 yr by Dick Allen

One thing to keep in mind is even if he wants to hit the ball to LF, when there's a radical shift, he's going to be pitched to accordingly. Unless a big mistake is made, he's not going to be given something that can easily be slapped the other way. He can hit the ball to LC very hard, but I don't think he hits ground balls to the left side much. They used to shift for Baines on the infield, but the OF would play him to hit the other way.

 

That's true, they usually pitch him in. Listening to the game on radio however, I've heard D.J. and Farmer describe many of the pitches to him as being outside, or even strikes over the outside half of the plate. Mistakes or not, he seems to be getting plenty of chances to make a point of going the other way, which tells me that he doesn't want to.

That's true, they usually pitch him in. Listening to the game on radio however, I've heard D.J. and Farmer describe many of the pitches to him as being outside, or even strikes over the outside half of the plate. Mistakes or not, he seems to be getting plenty of chances to make a point of going the other way, which tells me that he doesn't want to.

If he makes contact, generally and hopefully it goes in the air. The shift would be meaningless unless is a pop up foul by the stands on the 3rd base side.

 

I think as more and more info is dissected, more noticeable shifts for almost everyone will become the norm.

Edited July 9, 201213 yr by Dick Allen

! don't think it would be that hard to bunt hard and get it to go 30-50 feet past 3rd base. Normal bunts you try to have a loose grip on the bat and deaden it. A hard bunt would mean to just keep it fair and doesn't have to be right down the 3rd base line since the 3rd baseball is playing close to 2nd base . I could easily see a double bunt in Dunn's case and there's nothing wrong with a free double. Won't ever happen unless the Sox actually clinch the division semi early and Dunn's screwing around. But in the playoffs a hit like that would be awesome. He should at least try in in batting practice once in a while.

Edited July 11, 201213 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

If Adam Dunn were the type of hitter who could change his approach dramatically from pitch to pitch, you wouldn't see the extreme statistical profile on the back of his baseball card. Dunn's approach at the plate is: wait for a pitch I can hit 500 feet. That results in a lot of pitches seen, thus a lot of walks and a lot of strikeouts, and when he gets his pitch he often kills it, so a lot of home runs. What's happening on the infield is irrelevant to his approach, and I don't know that I want him tinkering like that when we know his tactics can get him to the all-star game.