Scorecards could get a little confusing during Houston Astros games this year.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch announced Monday he plans to use a four-man outfield in certain situations during the regular season, according to Jake Kaplan of The Athletic.

Hinch had the Astros experiment with the radical defensive alignment during spring training after using data to determine when and where it might be most effective against opposing hitters.

"It's not a gimmick play as much as it's a coverage," Hinch said. "Like any shifting that you do, you're trying to put guys in a position where we can cover the most ground that makes the most sense. And some guys, when you look at fly-ball rates and you look at where they actually hit the ball, you don't want to defend an area where there's minimal chance of those guys hitting it, and a lot of times that's on the ground on the opposite side of the field."

Houston's four-man outfield will be deployed almost solely against left-handed power hitters, Kaplan reports. The team tested it against multiple lefty mashers such as Washington's Matt Adams and Jay Bruce of the Mets during Grapefruit League action.

In the alignment, shortstop Carlos Correa would move to the right-field side of second base, pushing Jose Altuve from the keystone to short right field. The third baseman - usually Alex Bregman - would then move all the way back and become the left fielder, while the Astros' regular left fielder moves over into a "left-center field" position of sorts. The entire left side of the infield would then be uncovered, effectively gifting the hitter an opposite-field bunt hit.

Look at this defensive shift by the Astros...6 fielders standing in the outfield grass against former #STLCards first baseman Matt Adams, now with Washington. He could slap bunt a double down the 3rd base line. pic.twitter.com/TJkWWUnqMD — Bill Pollock (@missourisports) March 22, 2018

"There's a psychological part of this on the hitter that I'm looking at, too," Hinch added. "How much does it mess with the psyche of the hitter? And I've watched, this spring, guys try to change their swing and try to hit the ball the other way and hit the ball to a gap. That's largely advantage to us when big hitters like that do that."

The Astros won't use the shift at home because of Minute Maid Park's very short left field (315 feet from home plate), or when ace Dallas Keuchel - who posted an extreme 66.8 percent ground-ball rate in 2017 - is on the mound. In addition, Hinch will only run with the four-man outfield when the bases are empty.

Although what the Astros are doing could be revolutionary, it won't be the first four-man outfield in the majors. Last season, the Chicago Cubs used four outfielders against Cincinnati Reds star Joey Votto, but their version of the shift kept the shortstop in place to cover the entire left side of the infield.