Red Sox Deftly Exploit Loophole in MLB’s New Shift Rule

There’s shifting, and there’s whatever you call what Boston did against Joey Gallo.

Thanks to MLB’s new rule restricting the infield shift, gone are the days of second basemen playing in shallow right field and shortstops moving to the other side of the diamond. But that doesn’t necessarily mean wonky defensive alignments are a thing of the past.

Case in point? The Red Sox’s tactics against Twins outfielder Joey Gallo in a spring training game on Friday.

Boston complied with the league’s rule by keeping two infielders on each side of second base and all four on the dirt. But with the pull-happy Gallo up to bat, the Red Sox sent reinforcements to the right side by moving center fielder Adam Duvall to shallow right field and having left fielder Raimel Tapia shift to center.

That’s a pretty creative workaround—and it comes at a sizable risk, of course. While the Red Sox dared Gallo to hit a soft fly to left field and run for daylight with no defender in the area, that’s not how this matchup ended. Instead, Gallo walked on five pitches.

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Although pull hitters everywhere likely rejoiced at the banning of the traditional shift, the Red Sox’s defensive alignment surely wasn’t a welcome sight for Gallo.

However, it could be the start of a trend, as the Tigers went with the same strategy against Gallo on Sunday. The result this time? A solo home run to right field, proving that the best way to attack the shift is to simply hit over it entirely.