KANSAS CITY -- Don't dismiss how much defensive shifts have contributed to Jackie Bradley Jr.'s offensive woes.

Bradley is in the midst of a forgettable season. He's batting .200 with a .292 on-base percentage, .327 slugging percentage and .619 OPS in 80 games.

"For me, it's been there over the past two or three years for sure," Bradley told MassLive.com about aggressive shifting. "I don't know whether it's been more or not. I guess now things are getting more catered to each particular hitter."

Teams are shifting against Bradley more this year. Defenses have shifted in 51.4 percent of his plate appearances compared to 33.1 percent in 2017, 30.5 percent in 2016 and 16.1 percent in 2015, per Baseball Savant.

Bradley is hitting the ball hard. He has the 29th hardest exit velocity (91.5 mph) among major league hitters.

He has an expected batting average of .257 and expected slugging percentage of .432. "Expected batting average is more indicative of a player's skill than regular batting average, as xBA removes defense from the equation," per MLB.com.

Those advanced metrics indicate shifts have taken their toll on Bradley's actual batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

"It's about results," Bradley said. "We can try to sugarcoat it all we want to. Whether I hit the ball hard or not ... it gives you a sense that I'm squaring it up, I'm putting good swings on it and it might be right at somebody. But I'm going to keep continuing to say it, results is the only thing that matters."

So why not raise that average by hitting the ball to the left side of the infield where no infielders are positioned? Not as simple as it sounds.

"Everybody's always saying, 'Oh, just go the other way," Bradley said. "Yeah, you can say go the other way. But if a pitcher is pitching you inside, are you just going to try to knife it the other way?"

New Red Sox first baseman/outfielder Steve Pearce overheard the conversation and added pitchers are "throwing 97 (mph)" inside.

"They (pitchers) want you to manipulate your swing," Bradley said. "They want to get you to stop thinking about your strength to try to do something different. They're OK with giving up a single compared to an extra-base hit or a homer. They're OK with that.

"They're not just shifting you and then pitching you away," Bradley added. "They're shifting you and pitching you in. They want you to hit it to the pull side."

Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers added, "Yeah, I think obviously they're shifting him more. This first half, he has really found the defenders on that side of the field. He has hit some rockets right at guys that (teams) have placed them really well. I look at it as the second half could be something totally different and things start to fall for him. But right now the shifts that have been on him have probably worked in the defenses' favor."

Super agent Scott Boras -- who represents Bradley and Bryce Harper -- told The Washington Post that Harper's struggles this season have resulted from shifts.

Teams have shifted against Harper in 59.8 percent of his plate appearances this season compared to 21.6 percent last year.

Boras also told Fancred Sports' Jon Heyman he thinks extreme shifts are "discriminatory" toward left-handed hitters. From Heyman:

"You want right handed hitters and left handed hitters treated equally," Boras said by phone. "I think you have to (legislate) having two players on the other side of the (second base) bag."

Boras called the extreme shifts being used "discriminatory" because they hurt left handed hitters much more than right handed hitters. He estimated there's a 20-point penalty for lefty hitters, and further suggested it's not only bad for those hitters but bad for baseball, as well.

Would Bradley want MLB to eliminate shifts or is he OK with them?

"Not my call," Bradley said, adamantly. He then added, "It is what it is. It's part of the game."

Boras is correct about left-handed batters facing more shifts. Left-handed batters have faced shifts in 30.2 percent of plate appearances compared to 8.5 percent for right-handed batters, per Baseball Savant.

Bradley seems to be one of those left-handed hitters directly affected by it. Shifts are especially hurting him on fastballs. He has a .306 expected batting average against fastballs compared to an actual .255 average vs. fastballs.

He has struggled against breaking balls (.117 average, .183 expected average) and offspeed pitches (.063 average, .140 expected average) anyway shifts or no shifts. He needs to do a better job hitting secondary pitches.

"If you do get it to where you want it as a hitter, you hit it to where you want it to go, the shift ain't going to matter," Bradley said.

Shifts have become more focused toward each batter's hit locations as more advanced data becomes available.

"I think we've seen a big difference the past two to three years," Hyers said. "Each year has progressively gotten more and more.

"I think it's forcing some hitters to use the whole field," Hyers added. "And I think that's a new wave as hitters start to evaluate themselves, trying to counteract some of the shifts."

But Hyers agreed with Bradley that counteracting shifts isn't simple.

"Not all the time can you just hit the ball to the opposite field because they're throwing cutters in and sliders back foot and four-seamers in on your hands," Hyers said. "So it makes it more difficult. But pitchers make mistakes also. So just capitalize on those. And in Jackie's case, just keep hitting the ball hard. Good things will start falling in his favor."

Mookie Betts recently said that Bradley "might have some of the worst luck in the league."

Does Bradley feel he's having an unlucky year?

"I've hit a lot of balls hard right at people," Bradley said. "I don't know if that's a coincidence or anything. What can you do? Go out there and keep swinging."