here he is talking about it...
(Seager has been shifted against 69.4 percent of the time this season, according to Baseball Savant. That's the 13th-highest rate in baseball. He's hitting .235 against the shift.)
"It happens so many times now, where a ball would have been in the 4-hole [between first and second base], but that isn't there anymore. Or you hit a line drive up the middle, and the guy is standing there. It's kind of the new norm.
"When I debuted in 2011, shifts were nonexistent. Now when they play you straight up, it almost looks strange out there. That's another reason why guys are trying to get the ball in the air. Ground balls through the infield aren't getting through now. The people upstairs who are putting players in these positions are smart. They know all the numbers, and there's obviously a reason why they do it.
"I used to try to manipulate my swing to hit balls to the left side of the infield and create some easy hits. I'll still try to do it at times, depending on where guys are positioned, but a lot goes into it. It depends on the situation in the game. How many outs are there? Are there runners on base? If there are two outs and I get into a 2-0 count and I hit a little ground ball to the shortstop hole, that probably wasn't as productive a team at-bat as it could have been if I ended up hitting a double somewhere.
"I've tried to bunt a few times, and I've had a few successes. But the third baseman is usually still in there for the first two strikes, so the bunt is not as big a factor as it could be. Again, it's dictated by the score and the situation in the game.
"It goes back to the question of 'How can I help the team the most?' Am I going to help the team the most over the course of the season hitting weak ground balls to shortstop [for a single]? I'm not a guy who steals a bunch of bases, so you're relying on a few hits to score me. If I try to drive the ball and I hit a double, it only takes one hit to score me. I definitely understand how people can look at it and say, 'Man, just hit a ball to the left side.' But there are a lot of different arguments to it.
"We've had meetings and talked about this stuff. If you're facing David Ortiz, and he bunts over there and gets a single, he may have just done us a favor. If we let Ortiz beat us with a bunt as opposed to him hitting a homer, maybe that's OK.
"As far as baseball doing something to change the shifts, that's for people smarter than me to decide. I just go out there and play where they tell me to play.''
