Defensive shifts used to be rare occurrences reserved for only the most-notable left-handed pull hitters in Major League Baseball.
Oh, how times have changed.
As advanced stats have taken a larger role in the day-to-day workings of baseball, and every manager in the game has a bevy of detailed stats at his disposal, shifts have skyrocketed.
Like, more than you could ever even imagine. And that probably will not change at all in 2019, as The Athletic’s Jayson Stark points out.
Shifts used to be reserved solely for lefties, but now, defenses are putting in aggressive shifts against right-handed hitters as well. Stark compared the shift numbers from 2011 to 2018, and they absolutely will blow your mind.
There were 84 defensive shifts against right-handers in 2011.
In 2018? 11,573 (!!)
Here’s a breakdown of the last seven season of shifts on balls in play by a right-handed hitter.
2011: 84
2012: 787
2013: 1,260
2014: 3,673
2015: 4,162
2016: 8,698
2017: 8,133
2018: 11,573
The jump was equally as jarring for lefties, perhaps even more so. Lefties were shifted against 2,266 times in 2011. The number bumped up to 23,098 in 2018.
Some have called for defensive shifts to be banned, others are proponents of it.
What’s most-shocking is players’ utter refusal to just hit the ball the other way. Sorry, “Wee Willie” Keeler, “hit ’em where they ain’t,” apparently does nothing for Major League Baseball players these days.
