Towards the beginning of this year, I took a look at how the Mariners were utilizing the infield shift and how their batters were faring against it. In 2016, a defensive shift was employed well over a quarter of the time the ball was put in play. That represents a significant increase in shifting over last year—more than 10,000 more plate appearances ended with a defensive shift employed, leaguewide. While slow to adopt this strategy in years past, the Mariners bought into the defensive strategy wholesale this year.
First, a few reminders about the data that we’re working with:
- It only includes plate appearances where a ball is put in play.