Defensive Shift Limits (2023 rule change)

Definition

In September 2022, Major League Baseball announced three rule changes that were approved by the league’s Competition committee. The rules were adopted after extensive testing at the Minor League level over a several-year period and with feedback from MLB player and umpire representatives.

One of those rule changes included placing the following limitations on defensive shifts, beginning in the 2023 season:

• The four infielders must be within the boundary of the infield when the pitcher is on the rubber.
• Infielders may not switch sides. In other words, a team cannot reposition its best defender on the side of the infield the batter is more likely to hit the ball.

This rule does not preclude a team from positioning an outfielder in the infield or in the shallow outfield grass in certain situations. But it does prohibit four-outfielder alignments.

Going into the 2025 season, MLB made a minor tweak to the penalty incurred for violations of this rule. Previously, if an infielder was caught violating the rule, the batting team had two options: accept the result of the play or have the hitter be awarded an automatic ball. Under the new rules, the batting team may accept the result of the play or the batter will be granted a free base (enabling any other runners to advance one base) if there is a violation and the violating player was the first to touch the ball in play.