Title/Author:
“The Shift:
The Next Evolution in Baseball Thinking” by Russell A. Carleton
Tags:
Baseball,
professional, statistics
Publish
date:
April 1, 2018
Length:
366 pages
Rating:
4 of 5
stars (very good)
Review:
When people ask me why baseball is my favorite
sport, I tell them that I love it because it is a thinking game. The author of
this book, Russell Carleton, agrees with my assessment, but he goes even
further, stating that “maybe it’s even an obsessing game. It is most certainly a shifting game.” The last
portion of that statement is what he concentrates on proving in this book by
illustrating how the increased use of advanced statistics, also known as
sabermetrics, has shifted the focus of many aspects of the game.
There are many topics about the game covered in the
book. Starting with asking the right question, Carleton explores just about
every aspect of the game – hitting, pitching, defense (including the shift - only
makes sense with this title), managing on the field, managing off the field and
scouting. No matter what part of the
game the reader enjoys, he or she will find information that will be of interest.
Of course, since sabermetrics are the main theme of
the book, there are numbers galore making Carleton’s points. Not only does he
use the usual statistics that fans will see online or on television during the
games, but he uses many charts that compares situations year by year to show
trends. This can be anything from the
percentages of batted balls put in play to the run probability for a team in
any situation it may find during its time at bat in the inning. At times, it
can be overwhelming, even for the avid baseball fan. That isn’t necessarily a
bad thing as it means the book is chock full of information that may be of use
to some reader.
It should be noted that the book is not all numbers –
there are a lot of stories about not only the human element of the game, but
other stories such as when the author met his wife that will lead into the
baseball application of the particular topic. These passages help to make the
book more palatable to read than had it been strictly about numbers and charts.
Who should read this book? I will use my favorite
quote from the book to answer this question as readers who fit this description
should add this book to their libraries.
That would be readers who are “becoming wrapped up in the efforts of 25
players who just happen to wear funny pajamas emblazoned with the name of the
major city that (they) were born closest to.”
Book
Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
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