Dewan: An update on shifts in 2016
From SABR member John Dewan at ACTA Sports on September 2, 2016:
Back in April, we took a look at the state of shifting in Major League Baseball, but many things have changed in the four months since then. While MLB as a whole was on pace for over 30,000 shifts on balls in play in the middle of April, that number has gone down a bit. However, the league has still already smashed its own single-season shift record, and we still have a month to go in the season.
MLB shifts by season
2011: 2,350
2012: 4,577
2013: 6,882
2014: 13,299
2015: 17,744
2016: 28,102****Prorated from 23,060 shifts as of September 1, 2016
While some clubs were quicker to embrace the use of shifts than others, it appears that every one of the 30 MLB teams has adopted the shift as a concrete part of its strategy. Every team is projected to reach the 400-shift marker in 2016, a level that 11 clubs didn’t reach in 2015.
Read the full article here: http://www.statoftheweek.com
Originally published: September 2, 2016. Last Updated: September 2, 2016.