For the most part, the shift has worked for major league baseball teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks. It is the easiest way to position defenders against dead pull hitters.
As professionals, coaches expect their hitters to make adjustments. Some batters have refined their approach faster, but beating the shift has to test a player’s mental fortitude.
Think about it. When David Peralta and Jake Lamb are used to pulling the ball on the ground for hits, and all of the sudden a team takes that side of the field away, everything changes quickly with little time to change.