Defensive change is nothing new in baseball. Even before teams invest millions in analytics and video departments, you would see players change to accommodate a batter’s tendencies.
But in recent years the changes have become so extreme in MLB that baseball has sought to limit defensive positions. In Double-A, for example, an experimental rule requires that teams have a minimum of four infielder with both feet inside the infield ground. So according to these rules, you cannot play your third baseman at medium depth in right field.
This rule does not exist in MLB, however. So you can enjoy Padres third baseman Manny Machado catching a flying ball just steps from the right field warning track.
F5 in your dashboard. pic.twitter.com/jnluovJIqN
– MLB (@MLB) 5 septembre 2021
In Sunday’s game between the Astros and the Padres, Houston outfielder Kyle Tucker shot a ball into deep right field. But the Padres didn’t have the shortstop turned right Fernando Tatis Jr. positioned there to make the capture. Instead, Machado was there to catch up running just before the track.
Considering Tucker’s spray chart of a predominantly traction hitter (although he spreads the ball all over the field), the Padres obviously thought having a fourth outfielder would be the way to defend Tucker. You can see that he rarely hits the ball in third:
And hey, it worked. Of course, this is still marked as an F5 even though it is 300 feet from third base. Baseball can be weird like that.
