{"id":109330,"date":"2021-03-11T22:40:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=109330"},"modified":"2021-03-11T22:40:56","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:40:56","slug":"is-mlb-on-its-way-to-banning-the-shift-league-will-experiment-in-the-minors-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/is-mlb-on-its-way-to-banning-the-shift-league-will-experiment-in-the-minors-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Is MLB on its way to banning the shift? League will experiment in the minors in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Baseball fans tired of line drives dying in the glove of a fielder positioned halfway to the next area code, take heart: The first step toward banning the shift will be taken this spring.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Major League Baseball on Thursday announced a bevy of experimental rule changes that will be test-driven in the minor leagues this year, with the most notable coming at Class AA &ndash;&nbsp;that teams will be required to &quot;have a minimum of four players on the infield, each of whom must have both feet completely in front of the outer boundary of the infield dirt.&quot;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>MLB also noted that, based on first-half data, it may require teams to position two infielders on either side of second base during the second half of the season.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There&#39;s little secret to the motivation behind this and a bevy of other experiments: On-field action has diminished as home runs, strikeouts and walks are prevalent due to hitters&#39; approaches.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>MLB 2021:&nbsp;<\/strong>Scouts return to the stadium after year away<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>RANGERS<\/strong>: Texas ballpark will allow 100% attendance<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yet those approaches are partially a result of a massive drop in batting average, due in part to less success on balls in play as teams utilize data to optimally position infielders &#8211; some playing as deep as the right-center field gap.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Leaguewide batting average has fallen from .270 in 2000 to .245 last season. In the past two full seasons, it was at .248 in 2018 and .252 in 2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While minor-league experimentation does not automatically ensure a rules change at the major league level, myriad rule changes came after trial periods in the minor leagues &#8211; from instant replay to various pandemic-season workarounds in 2020, such as placing a runner on second to start extra innings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/03\/11\/USAT\/9f217677-3f08-40d9-a31d-b2382a6d19fb-USATSI_15701722.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/mlb\/2021\/03\/11\/mlb-new-rules-experiments-minors-2021\/4653892001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baseball fans tired of line drives dying in the glove of a fielder positioned halfway to the next area code, take heart: The first step [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":109329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is MLB on its way to banning the shift? 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