With no outs and runners on the first and second bases. It is a golden opportunity for an offensive team and a tricky crisis for a defensive team. Especially, since it takes time to maneuver when a lower-order line comes out, the defensive team faces difficulties in detecting the opponent team’s maneuver.
We need to see whether the opponent team will make a sacrifice bunt or make a fake bunt and slash. As a result, the defense team has a shift of 100 percent in which both the first and third basemen jump home, and also has a shift of 50 percent in which only the first basemen run and the third basemen take the batter’s bunt.
However, the LG Twins uses a different bunt shift when they hit the first and second bases with no outs. This is the so-called “Y shift,” which manager Yeom Kyung-yeop devised himself from the front desk of the Hyundai Unicorns.
In the case of a 100 percent bunt shift, when the first and third basemen move to home, the shortstop moves to the third base and the second baseman moves to the first base. This defense is based on confidence that the opponent batter bunt. If a witty batter relaxes the bunt posture, hits, and rolls it toward the infield, there is a high possibility that he or she will get a hit. 유흥알바
The “Y shift” that Yeom devised is made by the defender first and does not move. It has the advantage of being able to check whether a batter hits or bunt, and play defense. “I devised the shift since the front desk during the modern era, and I made the shift by measuring the players’ positions myself,” Yeom said. “As the defender does not move first, he has to make the decision on the offensive bench first. Rather, the attacking side could be under pressure.”
It was definitely effective. “I counted the number of outs from the third base with this shift last year, and I threw out 23,” Yeom said, stressing that it is a very effective shift. When Moon hit a bunt in the top of the second inning with no outs and runners on the first and second bases in the first game of the Korean Series against the KT Wiz last year, he also made triplets with this “Y shift.”
Y shift was the defense that caught Kim Ji-chan’s bunt from third base in the bottom of the seventh inning with no outs and runners on first and second in the game against the Samsung Lions in Jamsil on the 26th. When Kim Ji-chan took a bunt position until pitcher Lee Woo-chan threw the ball, Moon Bo-kyung, the third baseman, started running home, and shortstop Oh Ji-hwan also ran to third base. And Kim Ji-chan’s bunt ball rolled between the third baseman and the pitcher, and Lee Woo-chan fell quickly and accurately sprayed it to third base to kill him.
Lee Woo-chan caught Kim Young-woong’s bunt ball at first base with no outs and threw it to second base, which became a big crisis, but Lee Woo-chan struck out Kim Sung-yoon at third base in the second bunt, struck out No. 2 and caught Koo Ja-wook at right field fly to scoreless, which eventually led to Hong Chang-ki’s tiebreaking solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning, Moon Bo-kyung’s double in the bottom of the ninth inning and Moon Sung-joo’s finishing sacrifice fly, making it a 4-3 come-from-behind victory.
“Players have a high level of understanding as we have done this shift for the second year,” Yeom said. “If we practice hard during the spring camp, pitchers will also exert their utmost efforts. This defense allows runners to be thrown out at third base, preventing them from losing points,” he said. “When I was playing a practice match with the Japanese team during the days of the Heroes, I even asked how the Japanese team’s defense coach would do.”
“When I first made it, I had many advantages but also disadvantages. As I kept upgrading, I reduced my disadvantages,” Yeom said. “If the opponent uses this shift, I know how to break it. I made it myself.”
