I’ve watched baseball all my life, yet some terminology still catches me off guard. Most baseball terms have been coined over the years by sports writers and announcers as they reported the action on the field or the results of the game.
The Inside Shift
Baseball has its own ever-changing language, so it's not surprising that even long-term baseball fans still have to look things up in order to understand what the broadcaster said. There are also regular rule changes to meet today’s changing requirements in the sport.
The term 'shift' has been part of baseball terminology for many years, yet I can't recall it ever being used as often as it was in the 2014 baseball season. “The Shift is on”, the sportscaster tells us. All of a sudden it seemed to me as if it was happening in every game I watched. I couldn't figure out what the players were doing at first. Finally I got out my trusty Baseball Dictionary and looked it up!
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| Traditional baseball positioning; note the two infielders on each side of second base (left view). Baseball Defensive Positioning using a shift; note there is only one infielder to the left side of second base (right view) |
The 'Shift' means “to change fielding position", to move defensive players from their traditional positions in the field to defend against a particular batters' way of hitting, or to be in a better position for a double play.”
All individual players move left or right to step into the path of the ball for fielding, But the shift in 2014, the year I first began noticing it, seemed to involve half the players on the field all at the same time before the batter even hits. I've begun paying closer attention to this move now that I know what they are talking about. My baseball education continues.....
The Shift is Gone!
As time moved on, the shift was used more and more frequently (more than tripling between 2016 and 2022). Eventually, it was noted to have caused an historic drop in hitting by the offense and Major League Baseball banned the extreme defensive shift before the start of the 2023 season.
The reason for this rule change is defenders were being positioned in such a way as to dramatically decrease the batting average on balls in play. This was particularly true for left-handed pull hitters who watched hard-hit grounders and line drives into right field turn into routine outs.The ban on the shift was instituted as a way to open up the field and award batters more base hits and also providing a better entertainment for fans.
Summary
Along with sports creating their own language and becoming an established term, new baseball rules also come along as the need for them becomes obvious. Most of these rules have shown to have a positive effect on the game. The latest new rule in 2026 was the ABS rule. I can tell that another update in my review of baseball ‘happenings’ will soon be coming about as I continue my baseball learning.
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*This review about The Inside Shift in baseball was written by Wednesday Elf, your Baseball Contributor here on Review This! It was originally written in 2014, on another site no longer in existence and updated for Review This!
*Images in this story are courtesy of Pixabay.com
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