When the Yankees acquired Mark Teixeira he was a career .290 hitter, but since joining the Bombers he has only had a .266 average and much of that is due to his deterioriation as a left handed batter, hitting just .224 against southpaws last season.
Teixeira feels like the extreme shift that teams put against him is part of the problem and plans to try to lay down a few bunts next year to combat it, something he hasn’t done since he was a freshman in high school.
He told Dan Martin of the NY Post:
“One thing I noticed is that my average with men on base was good, but when no one’s on base, it wasn’t,’’ Teixeira said. “So when no one is on base, if they’re playing a big shift, I may lay down some bunts this year.”
Two things bother me right off the bat here. The first is, I would rather not see a guy who hasn’t bunted since he was 14 to start now at the age of 32. The second is, why is the shift a problem now, but it wasn’t for years when he was hitting .290 eve...
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