Major League Baseball has made three major rule changes for the 2023 season, and one that seems to be very polarizing is something that might be called the "shift ban." It, of course, isn't exactly a ban on shifting defenders to different areas than the traditional defensive positioning. It's more of a shift limit or just a regulation on defensive positioning of infielders, but those aren't quite as sexy as saying "the shift is banned."
The "shift" would be something we've grown very accustomed to seeing in recent years against left-handed hitters, mostly. We'll see just one defender on the left side of second base with three loaded onto the right, usually with one of them positioned a decent number of feet into right field. The latter positioning also enabled the right fielder to play much deeper than usual and takes nearly the entire right side of the field out of play for the hitter.
No more. The new rules stipulate that teams must have four infielders starting with at least one of their feet in the infield dirt, eliminating the extra outfielder positioning. Also, there must be two infielders on each side of second base, preventing the overloading of one side.
Teams are still permitted to move outfielders around at will, so it's possible we'll see some extra infielder alignments or something crazy with the alignment of the three outfielders, but the infielders are mostly confined close to their traditional spots. They'll still be able to move them around, just within the boundaries set forth by the new rules.
The rationale here is mostly within the "more on-field action" mandate from the commissioner's office. The lowest average number of singles per team game in MLB history, by season, are as follows:
2020: 5.06
2021: 5.15
2022: 5.33
2019: 5.34
2018: 5.42
2017: 5.54
We can just stop there. This registry goes back to 1871 and singles have been the hardest to come by lately, due to how good pitchers are in addition to how good teams have become at scouting.
Looping in every hit, the .243 batting average was the lowest it has been since 1968, a season where pitchers dominated so much that the league lowered the mound and altered the strike zone.
The new defensive alignment rules are designed to help bring more singles back and with it get the batting average a bit higher. Here are some players who could most benefit by having an angle to scorch a line drive through the infield.
