Outfield Defense Experiment Described As A Major ‘Misfire’

The New York Mets had two of the best defensive outfielders in baseball, but MLB’s Arizona Fall League experiment to “improve” the way outfield defense is done these days was described as a serious “misfire” by Keith Law of The Athletic. 

The basic concept behind it is almost comical. MLB has attempted to create what amounts to positional “lanes” defining each outfield spot, and any outfielder who lines up beyond these artificial designations is penalized, with batters being awarded first base. 

The experiment is being tried at one AFL Park, Salt River Fields according to Law, with outfielders being forced to play close to the foul lines, rather than consult those handy little positional cards they keep on hand at all times. 

The center fielder is also forced to play shallower that we’re used to seeing, per Law’s description, with dark green markers painted into the outfield grass to show what’s allowed and what’s not, with the Hawkeye tracking system used to measure positioning. 

The idea is to increase balls in play and bring doubles and triples back into the game in a bigger way, but as Law noted, “this ain’t it” as a possible fix. He also noted an ancillary problem, which is that many hitters have become so pull-happy that it sabotages the concept before it even has a chance to work. 

If you want to do a fun thought experiment, try this. You’d have Juan Soto in left, who’s one of the worst defensive outfielders in baseball, flanked by A.J. Ewing in center and Carson Benge in right. This would make Soto even more of a disaster, as he often struggles to track balls hit his way, and he’d be trying to do that while being out of position to start. 

Ewing would be frantically trying to cover for him, and as Law noted, he was surprised he didn’t see more outfield collisions, because the new rule creates two outfielders running full speed toward the same spot in the gaps. Outfield collisions are one of the most dangerous plays in baseball, so you can imagine some of the results. 

Law’s other major point about all of this was that it’s a shame that it’s happening in the AFL, which is often a developmental league for players learning a new position. The Mets are one of many teams with multiple prospects in the AFL, and their efforts to improve could be seriously compromised by this foolishness.