As a shortstop, Francisco Lindor often benefits from a shifted infield. The league's shifting frequency has skyrocketed in recent years, turning base hits into easy outs, but despite the defensive advantage, Lindor wants no part of it.
So, with Major League Baseball planning to implement a number of new rules at the minor league levels, including shifting restrictions, Lindor hopes those rules make their way to the MLB level, and the shift will be no more.
"The shift has got to be cut down," Lindor told Sports Illustrated. "Let me do me. Let me make the crazy play. Let me be like, 'OK, he's going to pull the ball. I can't be on that side of the base.' So as the pitch goes, I run on the other side of the base—pow!—and make the play."
Lindor hopes the disappearance of the shift can lead to more action in the field, even if it makes his job in the infield more difficult.
"We can't market the shift," Lindor said. "We can't market strikeouts."
Lindor was outspoken in a number of changes he wants to see made in baseball in his interview with Sports Illustrated, including the hope that more teams will push to contend, instead of teams being rewarded for spending less money, an issue that arose consistently with his former team in Cleveland.
"'Oh, you finished last in the league, we're going to give you money,'" Lindor said. "Because of the luxury tax, these teams that didn't want to spend money, they send them money for next year."
Lindor is hoping the Mets, under new ownership with Steve Cohen, will make a strong push to be World Series contenders, and a step towards that goal will be locking Lindor up to a contract extension, as the new Mets shortstop is set to hit free agency this winter unless the two sides reach a deal.
If Lindor does remain with New York, the Mets will be retaining a player not nearly as affected by the shift as other hitters, should the shift still be around in the coming years. Lindor, a switch hitter, has had 1,740 career at-bats where he wasn't shifted against, compared to 766 at-bats when hitting against the shift, per FanGraphs.
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