the first new MLB rules since '96

i don’t think i am. but i guess we’ll never know!

i’ve listed some big changes to the internals upthread. i consider them improvements.

Idk if I like the idea of eliminating 2 innings in an era full of relievers who can throw 105 mph strikes, feel like a big market team could dump truckloads of money at those guys and win 110 games

I do like the 3 inning/9 outs idea though. Everyone gets a turn!!

pfft come on that’s just rounders

But what if everyone got exactly three turns?

Baseboxing - throw hands if tagging isn't feasible

Peter Abraham reports:

There are a group of veteran pitchers who call their own games and MLB is expected to approve a PitchCom-type device that would allow the pitcher to signal to the catcher what he plans to throw or change pitches without shaking heads. It will be experimented with in spring training

Feels like at that point sign stealing by electronic means ought to be allowed, and then it can be a battle of the hackers

Give the fans what they want

... if you want to torment Joey Gallo, you can still torment Joey Gallo. You just risk a lot more than a single if he goes to LF. pic.twitter.com/EMBvuXQjzd

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) September 10, 2022

i agree w this guy’s argument that this isn’t actually a huge rule change but what i don’t understand is how this creates more risk/reward in shifting. why would teams now start shifting their outfields in this extreme way? something i’m not getting?

Breaking: MLB’s Joint Competition Committee has voted unanimously to make the extra inning rule permanent for all regular season games moving forward. (2023 and beyond). A runner will be placed at second base at the start of every extra inning. Story coming at espn

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 13, 2023

i like it. no more cool stories about how the game went to the 22nd inning and it was horrible for everyone involved, but otherwise, in addition to cutting down on game time, it adds some tension to every extra inning

still not sure how it speeds up games, given that both teams get the same "advantage" but i'm sure that was all litigated last year

The competition committee also voted unanimously to allow position players to pitch only in extra innings, in the ninth inning when leading team is up by 10 or more runs or anytime when the trailing team is down by 8 or more.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 13, 2023

runs per nine innings of regular baseball is (for both teams) 8-something; with the runner starting on second it’s 20-something

I don't like it--for me, it just bends the basic game out of shape too much. And even though this is demonstrably not true, it always feels like the road team has an advantage (i.e., my guess is the home team is playing from behind more often than not).

Why fucking limit when position players can pitch?! It’s not like teams are doing this for fun. Also won’t this really inhibit any more two-way players?

won’t this really inhibit any more two-way players?

nah

Only heard a few days ago that they're going to go back to strictly enforcing the balk rule(s) this year. 1) I hope Gausman's not affected too much--there was a game last year where the home-plate ump was just lying in wait for him. 2) They did this one year in the late '80s and it was crazy; balks went up by a few hundred percent, then they ditched that and everything went back to normal the next season.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fpwi3bnX0AEZHrp?format=jpg&name=900x900

if this is what it's going to look like in ML parks... i hate this

i know i'm not representative of the general population but my brain is genuinely incapable of tuning something like that out, it's going to be a nonstop battle to keep my attention on the plate

San Diego Padres star Manny Machado committed the first pitch-clock violation in a spring-training game, getting docked a strike because he was not set and facing the pitcher in the batter's box when the clock reached 8 seconds.

that’s not good

plenty of other sports have time limits on things like foul shots and snaps and there
is zero reason to ever present that information to the viewer

xpost

enforcing the rule IS good imo

Yeah I support the pitch clock but I don't want to be aware of it ever

From the sound of it it barely even registered in the minors once the players got used to it

i am pretty sure that, if any stadium includes the pitch clock indicator in the view of the tv cameras, they'll change that quickly

Just turned into MLB Network and they called someone out or third strike for not being ready. 6 -6 bottom of the ninth. Braves vs Red Sox.

Wow

Small sample but through 10 spring training games the average time of game is 2h 34m. That last time MLB games were faster for a season was 1978 (2h30m).

— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) February 25, 2023

This is a person who has never watched ST baseball:

Do you happen to know what the average time was for spring training games? I have always felt like they were quicker than regular season games.

— Dan Schrage (@DSchrage) February 25, 2023

Cal Conley does not get set in time and gets called for the strikeout and the game ends pic.twitter.com/rQ8KOv0Sa6

— Gaurav (@gvedak) February 25, 2023

i mean...arguably just get in the box and be ready with 8 seconds to go imo

well this sucks

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-garcia-to-adjust-windup-due-to-2023-rule-changes

For those concerned that the pitch clock is so prominent in the background of at-bats during spring-training games: The plan in big league ballparks is for it to be out of view of the center-field camera. In other words: TV viewers will not see the physical clock during pitches.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 25, 2023

cherry picked clips, of course, but

Landon Knack throwing an entire half inning vs. Pedro Báez throwing 1 pitch. pic.twitter.com/wHa2p6K7k8

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 27, 2023

Yankees relief pitcher Wandy Peralta struck out a hitter in 20 seconds pic.twitter.com/VwEBzyXH99

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 2, 2023

i love it! and you know what i think i’m going to love it in the post-season too. bring on the craziness.

yeah the pitch clock seems good so far. there are going to be some dumb controversial calls at crucial moments ("how can a playoff game end this way" etc) but the games i've watched seem a lot peppier for sure

Max Scherzer, Pitch Clock Gamesmanship.

Long hold. Adams takes his only time out.

Then Max stays set so he can pitch as soon as Adams is ready. pic.twitter.com/3uj9ucDFEl

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 3, 2023

Gausman and the balk rule (paywall maybe, not sure):

https://theathletic.com/4277023/2023/03/06/kevin-gausman-delivery-rule-change-balks/

"...it’s a problem for Gausman, because he’s currently starring in a not-so-major motion picture from MLB’s new 'Mess with Your Dreamworks' studios.

It’s a little video feature, shown by MLB to managers and media alike this spring, on now-illegal pitching deliveries. And it stars Gausman, along with Houston righty Luis Garcia, as toe-tappers or false-starters whose old delivery is now considered by MLB to be a balk."

I’m watching a spring training game in which 9 runs have already scored, and we’re heading into the bottom of the 7th, and just passed 2 hours of game time. This shit appears to be working

That Scherzer clip above is so funny. What a maniac!

watching white sox/a’s spring training game and the chyron has the pitch clock but not the number of outs

The Tigers and Guardians played a doubleheader in four hours, 13 minutes.

!!

https://www.espn.co.uk/mlb/story/_/id/36226372/mlb-eyes-more-rule-changes-experiment-atlantic-league

Thoughts?

overkill, by a lot

Love baseball’s commitment to bad science

i don’t understand why lowering the mound 6 inches is never on the cards

good long article on ABS. this jumped out at me:

Until recently, the technology and application had been substandard -- including a previous version, used in the 2019 Arizona Fall League, that was laughably bad, with curveballs that clipped the bottom front of the zone hitting the plate and being called strikes. MLB scuttled that three-dimensional zone for 2D, upgraded to the Hawk-Eye system best known for its incredibly accurate line-calling in tennis and installed a dozen cameras calibrated to the fixed items on the field -- home plate and the chalked baselines -- that capture the flight of the ball at 330 frames per second.

does that mean the strike zone is no longer defined as a pentagonal solid??