What once caused us to blink and adjust our television sets have now become a modern trend. With summer stretching out, the great game of baseball is seeing more of what was considered an oddity. Shifts in the infield and or the outfield are happening with a greater frequency. What was the cause of this and will it eventually drive the totals down as another element goes to the pitcher? Join APEX Baseball Betting as we look at what is causing this to happen.
By the Numbers
Relying on what appears to be the case is insufficient to our needs for wagering. Let us go to the numbers to bolster or break this theory.
- Two years ago the total shifts for a season was 2,357.
- Last season it went up to 13,298.
- At the All-Star break, it is already over 10,000.
Number crunchers looked at all the instances where it was projected to hurt, be a benefit, or have no effect. On a net scale, it was calculated to save 190 runs for these manuevers. Good for managers but bad for baseball. Even worse for Carlos Santana of the Indians. We did some looking into it and over eighty five percent of the time he was shifted against. It was a contributing factor in him only batting .231. To continue with the mad respect he gets, he led the AL in walks with 113 last year.
So even some of the best power hitters in the game can not escape the effect of the shift. As more teams embrace the shift, the numbers will increase. Anything to save runs and manager’s jobs. Investigate which teams do this the most and start looking for correlation in the numbers. You just might uncover one of those wagering gems that few can discover. Good fortune and we will see you next time here at Apex Baseball Betting.
