@MarkKnudson41
Ryan McMahon was a finalist for the National League Gold Glove at third base in 2021. According to the metrics, his defensive value alone is more than worth the nice $70 mil contract extension he recently signed with the Colorado Rockies. He’s also started games for the Rockies at first base and second base.
He’s never started a game at shortstop.
“I would like to line up at shortstop and take a couple over there,” McMahon said prior to the opening weekend series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers. “As a kid, it’s every kid’s dream to be a big league shortstop, right?”
Looks like he’s going to get plenty of chances to do that this season.
When the Rockies employ a defensive shift against a lefthanded hitter – meaning they move three players to the second base side of the infield – they’ve been known to leave their third baseman (that used to be nine-time Gold Glover Nolan Arenado before he was traded to St. Louis) all alone on the other side…meaning the third baseman is essentially playing the shortstop position.
Most teams tend to leave their shortstop at home and have their third baseman move over into short right field to be the extra guy on the right side. Not Colorado. Because they haven’t had to.
Now that McMahon has claimed the position, the Rockies won’t be altering that strategy.
Less than three hours after saying he hoped to get the chance to field balls from the shortstop position, it happened. McMahon found himself alone on the third base side of the infield as pitcher Jhoulys Chacin faced Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Max Muncy. Chacin got Muncy to pop a ball up in foul territory near the Dodgers dugout. Playing his normal third base spot, McMahon would have been able to camp under the easy pop up, even in the windy conditions that Sunday brought. Instead, he had a long sprint toward the LA dugout to make a sliding, Nolan-esque catch that was worthy of a SportCenter Top Ten play.
Every kid’s dream.
Yet even after all that, McMahon – the hitter – isn’t a fan of “The Shift.”
“I hope they do (ban the defensive shift),” McMahon continued. “It’s not a good feeling when you hit a ball well to right field and you look up and the other team’s third baseman is halfway out there catching it. So for me personally as a left handed hitter who hits balls over there, I’m excited to see how it shakes out.
“As far as the integrity of the game, I think it’s going to be good,” he continued. “It’s the up-the-middle one for me though. I feel like that’s a hard spot to hit the ball right back up the middle…that’s gotta be a hit.”
All indications are the “The Shift” will be a thing of the past by this time next season. The owners and players have agreed to let the owners make that decision next off season, and the owners are said to be ready to send the shift to the showers. So those hard hit balls up the middle – the way young players are taught to hit – will go back to being hits more often than not. Same with the line drives into shallow right field. No third baseman will be standing there to catch was what a clean single for more than 100 years.
Not even McMahon.
Be sure to catch Mark Knudson and Manny Randhawa on the Park Adjusted Rockies Podcast each week, available on all major Podcast platforms.