Two years into the shift ban, the batting average recovery is measurable: league-wide BA has gone from .243 in the final shift-allowed year to .251 in 2025 and early 2026 tracking suggests continuation. The 8-point improvement is real but below the 15-20 points some analysts projected. The reason: fielders adapted. Rather than shifting alignment, teams now use aggressive positioning adjustments within the rules and smarter pitcher-catcher game planning to push the same hitters into pull-side grounders that are converted at higher rates regardless of shift. The hitters most helped by the ban are those who legitimately went the other way — their .260 BA would have been .230 under heavy shifting.

]]>https://spveforpit.com/topic/217/mlb-shift-ban-year-two-batting-average-recovery-is-real-but-RSS for NodeSun, 26 Apr 2026 13:19:09 GMTWed, 22 Apr 2026 13:30:00 GMT60Two years into the shift ban, the batting average recovery is measurable: league-wide BA has gone from .243 in the final shift-allowed year to .251 in 2025 and early 2026 tracking suggests continuation. The 8-point improvement is real but below the 15-20 points some analysts projected. The reason: fielders adapted. Rather than shifting alignment, teams now use aggressive positioning adjustments within the rules and smarter pitcher-catcher game planning to push the same hitters into pull-side grounders that are converted at higher rates regardless of shift. The hitters most helped by the ban are those who legitimately went the other way — their .260 BA would have been .230 under heavy shifting.

]]>https://spveforpit.com/post/348https://spveforpit.com/post/348Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:30:00 GMT