Reds' Jay Bruce won't shift philosophy

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – When Jay Bruce hit an opposite-field single in Thursday's spring training game against the Indians, he knew exactly what was being said on Twitter.

Bruce faces an extreme infield shift during most of his at-bats, and he knows what people say – just hit it where the fielders aren't. It sounds simple – it really does.

"People talk about just slapping the ball through the six hole – I'd like you to name people who can do that," Bruce said. "On the ground in the six hole. Name someone who does it."

Um … Ichiro Suzuki.

"Ichiro," Bruce acknowledges. "OK, who else?"

Um … Ichiro?

"Ichiro. Tony Gwynn did it," Bruce said. "Who else? Next?

"No one."

Bruce continues. "It's one of those things, it's a good idea, a good theory, but the player I am and the player people expect me to be, slapping balls on the ground to the six hole, it really isn't the plan. The plan also isn't to yank everything down the line. I don't go out there trying to pull the ball."

The plan, Bruce said, is to go from the gap in left to the gap in right.

"That always plays, no matter the situation. Now, if you start putting guys in gaps, moving infielders into the gaps, then I'm in trouble," Bruce said. "I'm not saying I discount the approach of the game. I'm not saying I'm going to just pull everything anyway, that's not my approach anyway. My approach is to hit from left-center to right-center and stay in the big part of the field and get good pitches to hit and drive the ball."

Driving the ball was something Bruce just wasn't able to do a year ago. Bruce underwent knee surgery in May and spent the minimum 15 days on the disabled list before returning. Bruce struggled with his power before the injury and after.

Where that loss of power really showed up was to the opposite field. Of his 18 home runs 2014, none were to the left of dead center field. In 2013, six of his 30 homers were to the left of dead center and one right at center.

Bruce addressed his knee's health early in camp and made it clear he didn't want to talk about it again, just saying he's 100 percent and the knee feels as good as it ever has. He showed it in Sunday's game against the Mariners with his first home run of the season, a well-struck ball that went out to the left of the batter's eye at Goodyear Ballpark.

Reds hitting coach Don Long said he couldn't speak to Bruce's feeling with his leg last season, but does know a knee injury can change many things about a player.

"Generally, what happens is you try to manufacture the same amount of bat speed and more of that's coming from your upper half and you're generating from your upper half, which makes you susceptible to being about to be quick with the barrel and go over the ball and all that," Long said.

That change in his swing didn't allow Bruce to get out in front of the ball and made him even more susceptible to the outside pitch.

The lack of power, more than anything the fielders did, hurt Bruce the most in 2014, he said.

The eye test says differently. It seemed like Bruce was hitting into the mouth of the shift all too often in 2014, however the numbers say differently. According to FanGraphs.com, Bruce had a .286 batting average on balls in play when teams shifted against him, and .216 when they didn't.

For the most part, Bruce doesn't even want to think about it, or pay it any mind – "If I do what I'm supposed to do, I'm on second."

Bruce doesn't see himself as someone who is a .290 hitter with 14 home runs. Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams beat the Reds' shift twice during the team's first series in 2014. Teams shifted against Adams much of the season and he hit well against it, finishing with .288 average on the season. However he hit just 15 home runs as the team's full-time first baseman, as opposed to the 17 he hit in 2013 as a part-time player. Adams' home run rate went from 21.8 percent in 2013 to just 8.7 percent last year.

Like Bruce, Adams' batting average on balls in play was better against the shift, but unlike Bruce, he seemed to try to hit it where the fielders weren't. Adams' approach had its benefits, but it did lessen the threat of his power, while not exactly adding the same kind of threat on the base paths.

"The thing the shift tries to do is two things, it tries to defend where you hit most of the balls in play, and No. 2, maybe try to force you to switch your approach," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "We saw that with Matt Adams, it took his power stroke away, but he had some of those early games where he shaved those balls out into left field, he hit a chopper down the third-base line against us. It fundamentally changed his approach, he'd hurt us with his power (in the past) and he didn't as much (in 2014). He found a way to make it work. That could have just as easily been a way to where he's working under the ball and pop it up trying to change his approach. It kind of works in two ways — against the hitter. That's why I think it can be effective."

There are times, Bruce noted, he'll try to drop down a bunt — if it's late in the game and the team is down multiple runs. But for the most part, if he's right — something he wasn't in 2014 — it shouldn't matter where the fielders are positioned.

"When I'm doing my job, I'm hitting the ball in the gap and in the stands," Bruce said. "I completely understand the idea, but that is my approach. The big part of the field. My job is to drive the ball."