Baseball is all about trends, with teams setting them and then other teams following patterns of success. The Kansas City Royals get to back-to-back World Series on the strength of their legs and suddenly every General Manager is a “leg man”. Next thing you know, the stolen base has gone the way of the “launch angle revolution” and the “opener” isn’t just a Tampa Bay Rays quirk it’s an actual thing.
If there is a trend emerging for the 2020s, it might be the increasing value teams are placing on versatility. Perhaps it’s a nod to the plethora of injuries teams must navigate over a 162-game grind, or maybe it’s an attempt to create closer to a 30-man roster with just 26 bodies.