The opener and the shift. Two revolutions in baseball strategy — or fads, depending on who you talk to — one of which burst on the scene last year courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays, the other of which has been building for several years.
Enter the Orioles, led by new GM Mike Elias. He hired former NASA engineer Sig Mejdal to build a brand new analytics department. Things are changing at the warehouse. We have every reason to believe the team will start doing whatever the data tells them to.
Part of Elias’ and new manager Brandon Hyde’s challenge will be how to best utilize the personnel they have.