What It Means:

Zobrist, who can play in the infield and outfield, has a 0.97 nERD in 271 plate appearances this season. He is certainly an upgrade over Royals second baseman Omar Infante’s -2.32 nERD, which is second worst in the MLB among all batters with at least 80 plate appearances. Zobrist could see some playing time at second base as a result. A 3.92 net swing in nERD in one move is a huge improvement for a team that already has a 94.6% chance to win their division, according to our algorithm.