But why is it stupid? It's no different than shifting the infield in for a runner at 3B or having the 1B & 3B in close in bunting situations. It's the defense trying to gain an advantage based on tendencies of the hitter. What is stupid about it?Shifting is stupid and makes me turn the channel, and basically stop tuning in.
The whole reason why fielders are in "normal" alignment is because that is where defenses thought it covered the field the best so there were no holes for the offense to exploit. There is no other reasons for that normal alignment than trying to cover the field. It has nothing to do with positions need to be in a certain place. Its where teams thought they needed to be to cover the field the best. Now teams have data that shows a hitter won't hit the ball to a certain location (or very rarely) so they are using that data to cover more of the field the batter typically hits it to. Why is that stupid?