the first new MLB rules since '96

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??

sorry, link: https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/37721995/robo-umps-automated-balls-strikes-abs-future-mlb-minor-leagues

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-have-the-new-rules-changed-the-game/

so far, mostly good, it seems.

...For the most part, I think MLB’s rule changes have been a success. The main observable change is tempo; games are lasting less time despite a similar amount of action. That’s a big change, and as measured by pitch violations, it hasn’t excessively affected any particular team or player. Instead, the game is just moving faster, which was the stated goal of the changes.

Changing the rules to increase stolen bases seems to have worked roughly as expected: Teams are running more frequently and with more success. Those steals aren’t making the game unrecognizable, though; we’re talking about an extra half a steal per game, give or take. I think there was reason to worry whether steals would become undefendable, but the evidence suggests that hasn’t happened. Catchers who control the running game are more valuable than in recent years, but that’s also hardly an unwelcome change. For the most part, I think that the extra steals leave the game looking like a slightly faster version of itself, just like the pitch timer changes.

On the downside, the new restrictions on infield shifts haven’t accomplished much of anything. Lefties are reaching base more frequently when they put the ball on the ground, but not at pre-shift rates. Defensive positioning is still taking hits away, particularly in the middle of the field. Righty batters still have a slight BABIP advantage on lefties thanks to infield positioning. If the league wants to fix that disparity, there will have to be stricter shift restrictions, probably centered around keeping the area behind second base empty.

If you were hoping for mostly the same baseball, congratulations: you’ve got it. If you were hoping for teams to start prioritizing speedy lefty singles hitters, or for batters to start trying to keep the ball on the ground to take advantage of the new defensive restrictions, that hasn’t panned out. Teams are scoring more this year, but that’s mostly unrelated to rules changes. I think that’s great; from my perspective, the league has threaded the needle by affecting how games look without putting their thumb on the scale of offensive and defensive balance.

There was an observation on EW about how the BA points gained by LH batters are lost in the aggregate because teams ALSO cant shift against righties, which reenforces the belief that shifting righties doesn’t really work

My favorite thing about the pitch clock is that there's no time to replay the pitch I just saw. Keep the camera on the action, such as it is.

They've gotten better at showing replays within the allotted time, gave them fits at the beginning of the year

Braves aren't showing replays on balls in play if they're just groundouts or flyouts. Arcia just went out to short center to make a nice over the shoulder catch, no replay. I'm really loving this -- it more closely matches the experience of being at the park.