Statistical Analysis: Fielding Shifts Cost Marlins

[emkayseven]

Found this tidbit interesting...

The Marlins are a team that has never committed very seriously to shifting. In 2013, they ranked 18th in baseball in shifts on balls in play, with 180. This year, they have nominally followed the trend of increased shift usage, though the 203 shifts for which they are on pace would actually drop them to 24th in baseball. Furthermore, they are clearly uncomfortable with the idea of dedicating three fielders to one side of the infield, as 85 percent of their shifts have been partial shifts, both last year and this year.

That said, the Marlins managed to use their shifts to efficient effect in 2013, saving themselves nine runs, which was second most in the NL. However, their approach has not been nearly as effective so far this season. Opponents are beating the Marlins' shifts much more often than last year, with their batting average on ground balls and short line drives increasing from .264 in 2013 to .317 thus far this season. As a result, the Marlins' shifts have cost them, to the tune of minus-2 SRS so far.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story...ive-shifts-mlb

[Erick]

Considering that it's the dumbest organization in baseball, it's not all that surprising.

[dim]

Redmond.

Or just bad luck so far.

But I'm having too much fun blaming everything on Redmond this year, so yeah.

[Beef]

Man, that result they ultimately give certainly doesn't represent the best way of doing that math. It seems more like a stat they wanted to use to talk defensive shifts so they found the easiest possible way to get a result.

[Bobbob1313]

12 teams shifted less than them last season, and now they're on pace to shift more often, but an extra ball or two has gotten in for a hit? Is that essentially it?

This doesn't seen particularly meaningful right now.