Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association jointly announced modifications to a series of rules today, all of which have been approved and will be implemented for the 2017 season (Twitter link). The most notable of the bunch include approval of an automatic intentional walk that does not require any pitches to be thrown, a 30-second limit for a manager to request a replay review, and a “conditional” two-minute guideline for officials to reach a determination on a review case. (The announcement notes that there are “various exceptions” but does not elaborate.) Additionally, Crew Chiefs can now invoke replay reviews of non-home-run calls even after a manager is out of challenges beginning in the eighth inning, as opposed to the seventh inning.
Over the course of the 2016-17 offseason, a number of potential rule changes have been floated — ranging from fairly mild in nature (e.g. today’s implementations) to extreme (e.g. Jeff Passan’s report of placing a runner on second base to open an inning at a certain point in extra innings and Jayson Stark’s report of potential strike zone alterations). While the elimination of the traditional four-pitch intentional walk has drawn its fair share of ire from fans and from some players, last season saw an intentional free pass issued just over once every third game during the regular season, so the change isn’t exactly radical. Then again, because of the infrequency of intentional walks, there’s also some merit to the argument that the change doesn’t impact the pace of play enough to merit implementation.
Beyond those two rules, there was also an amendment made in regard to the positioning of base coaches prior to the delivery of a pitch. (Effectively, they must be positioned at the intersection of the coaching box line that is closest to the plate and the line that runs parallel to the foul line when the pitch is delivered but are free to move to signal a player when a ball is in play). It is also now expressly forbidden to use any type of on-field markers that could serve as a reference for the positioning of defenders. And, the league made an addition to Rule 5.07, which seems to carry a direct correlation to Carter Capps’ unorthodox and controversial delivery.
Per the league’s announcement, the rule now “stipulates that a player may not take a second step toward home plate with either foot or otherwise reset his pivot foot in his delivery of the pitch.” Doing so with the bases empty will result in an illegal pitch, while doing so with runners aboard will result in a balk.
As Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Twitter links), Capps’ “hop-drag” delivery has been interpreted consistently by the league in recent years. Today’s rule change was a formalization of that interpretation. MLB.com’s A.J. Cassavell tweets that the team (and, based on Lin’s tweets, the league) interpret this to mean that Capps can legally drag his foot during his delivery so long as he does not pick the foot up and reset it.
Why the intentional walk one? It’s a bit stupid imo. Make the pitcher pitch and maybe he lobs it over the catcher. Like Betances. Maybe a run scores. A bit silly to take that away.
That happens maybe a few times all season. Not worth keeping for the .5% chance someone misfires one.
It completely is worth keeping, if not just for the integrity of the game. How gimmick is it to just say “walk to first”. That’s just dumb and will save so little time. Not to mention it takes away some strategy, such as getting your guy in the pen warm or or helping to slow it down for a guy in a jam.
Couldn’t they just pitch 4 wide instead of using the new rule if they wanted to though? So it shouldn’t interfere with that last aspect
NEW RULE
If a batter hits an out of the park home run, the batter and all base runners should immediately return to the dugout. Actually running the bases wastes time and borders on unsportsmanlike conduct.
LOL! Very funny!
It’s things that happen few times per season that can make the sport great
Should have just gone to their mouth four times, anyway.
THANK YOU!! I’ve been saying this for years!
By the time July rolls around you won’t even remember why you thought it was a bad idea to take it out.
It happens that little.
Carter Craps rule (y)
“Guideline”. I have a feeling that won’t change the pace of replay that much. Getting the call right should still be the #1 priority
I myself prefer pre-replay baseball. Much more exciting. I’d rather see a guy lose his mind for 2 minutes than a dang replay. Even if that means my team has a blown call go against them. To me it got old very fast watching a review of a bang bang play. It’s not a machines game. I could do without pitch tracking too.
Agree with you. (Save it for the Playoffs and World Series)
I disagree is much rather have the right call be made.
So you like longer games? A manager blowing his stack takes at least 3 minutes every time and some of the big ones take 5 minutes or more. A replay will now take a maximum of 2 minutes. I would rather have games move faster.
I think that each game needs its own replay official. Not a crew in NY that has to be given the feed after the fact. All the replay official does is watch that game and if a call is blown, they immediately overrule it No need for a manager asking for it. We have the technology, let’s get the calls right. The umpires union should like that immensely since it means 15-16 more umpires have jobs. It should also eliminate the 30 second wait for managers to call for a replay and it should eliminate all the arguments. Viola, the game is faster and all the calls are right.
I could be wrong, but I feel like that was how they pitched (no pun intended) the instant replay system initially. “We’ll have the decision already made by a team watching plays as they come in. The umpire just has to put on the headset and will be informed of the correct call.”
Voila! A viola. (Sorry, couldn’t resist)
Some people do like longer games. The response to that is obvious though so take it for what it is.
Manager blowups are or were a great part of the game. They are part of the fabric of baseball.
With those replay rules there is no need for umps in the infield. They would be pointless
lol what? You’d rather have your team lose a game that could potentially get you in the playoffs because they botched an easy call thanks to no-replay than get the call right?
That’s the worst take I’ve ever seen. Get out of the 1970s, they weren’t all that great.
This is all b.s. The only way to speed up the game is to cut commercial breaks, and that’s not happening.
They know this, but the progressive commissioner really wants to add more scoring. And that is screwing with the game.
Except for catcher visits and length of replay, which does need tweaking, hands off.
What a joke. Unnecessary to change intentional walks. Why make such a minor change to piss off the fans?
Speeding up the game will ruin the game. Its baseball, its not meant to by speedy. They’re messing with the nature of the game and I may have to cancel my MLB tv subscription over this. They don’t even let the players or
coaches vote on this stuff or have a voice.
Capps’ foot drag thing should be illegal too, but at least he can’t bunny hop all the way down the mound now.
He never has “bunny hops” it looks like he does, but in reviews it’s obvious he drags his foot the entire way down, plants, then throws his heater. Very stressful on the arm, but it’s effective.
He was still making a legal pitching motion, but now it’s official.
Looks like a hop to me. Check out the last video on the page: cbssports.com/mlb/news/watch-carter-capps-hop-deli…
streamable.com/wp005
The ruling didn’t change on Capps delivery. It’s always been the same, it’s now in the rulebook in case others decide to use the same delivery, which they will since it’s so effective.
Capps never has bunny hopped down the mound. In games, he has always dragged that foot. The only place you have ever seen a bunny hop was in his first bullpen in over a year in spring training.
check out capps’ new delivery he was using this year.
streamable.com/wp005
@ pads fans Why would he be using that delivery in his first bullpen in over a year if he never planned to pitch that way? .
Baseball is the one sport where rule changes cause an uproar. Pretty funny.
You must not pay attention to any sport besides baseball.
NASCAR just became an entirely different sport altogether…..fans and drivers alike are absolutely in an uproar
Just curious as I don’t follow NASCAR, what change was made and why are people in an uproar?
Too many rules changes to cover it all in a short reply. In short, NASCAR kept changing the rules to appease to short attention span people to grow their fan base and they alienated all the long time fans. Not only have most of those long time fans stopped watching, but they also never introduced their kids to NASCAR. The result is track owners are pulling down grandstands so that their tracks don’t look empty on televised races.
NASCAR doesn’t count, it’s not a sport.
LEAVE THE SPORT ALONE.. It is doing well enough without all of the ‘Improvements’ (Get rid of the Video Replay except for the Playoffs) When do the fans get a voice in this decision making? Maybe one of our Congressional ‘Representatives’ can get involved as MLB has anti-Trust exemption.
What does the antitrust exemption have to do with anything here.
I am saying we share a role in the success of the sport
I support the rule changes in general, but it is quite sad to know that we will never get another Miguel Cabrera moment ever again.
I don’t think there’s anything preventing a pitcher throwing four intentional balls if he wants to give more time to a reliever warming up.
Is it a ‘0’ as far as official pitch count?
I already see myself giving up on watching baseball one day.
That’s a bit far fetched if you are considering giving up on a sport because they now allow a manager to signal for a walk, instead of having a pitcher possibly risk injury tossing those 4 lobs.
Not far fetched at all. Baseball is ritualistic. If you want to walk a guy, you have to THROW BALLS. It takes the pitcher out of his rythm. This is the price he pays.
Risking injury???? You really don’t think before you write huh?
How is throwing four balls 5 feet out of the strike zone “Ritualistic”?
They used to not have fences at parks and the players shared gloves between teams during games, want them to go back to that too?
Yes
I’m generally supportive of replay but there are a few things that need to be tweaked.
Replay was not meant to be used to spend 4 minutes using super slow motion video to try to figure out if a baserunner’s finger came off of the bag one millimeter for one millisecond. The same thing happens in hockey with offsides replays.
Get the obviously wrong calls right, but it’s these types of replays that are killing the game (s).
Solution: Only use full speed video on these particular plays. No slow motion. If it’s not obvious in real time that the call was wrong, leave it and move on with the game..
The biggest problem with replay is that there are 15 games on most days, often as many as 8 at a time, and only a two replay officials in the booth in New York. Why not simply have a replay official at each game in the broadcast center? They are only watching one game and have access to all the broadcast angles immediately. Now replays are 30-45 seconds for them to watch from all angles.
Or have the crew chief be handed a tablet to watch the play himself.
That’s a great idea. Then it makes the managers only use it on calls that are obviously wrong. I bet it only gets used half as often.
That’s pace of play right there.
With no man on base use only the signal to intentional walk the batter, otherwise, the pitcher must thrown four pitches
The intentional walk rule change is idiotic.
I think the pitcher definitely must make the throws on a intentional walk.Anything can happen,either on the pitch,or the throw back by the catcher.I attended a game in June 2011 in which the Mariners defeated the Marlins in 10 innings on a wild pitch during a IBB with a runner on third base!
The ONLY purpose behind all these changes is GREED and the Ego of Manfred.People love baseball because it has had stability and none of the other sports have that.
Baseball is getting as bad as football……let the game be played the way it was intended.
Starting to miss the steroid era even more…
Am I the only one who thinks the crew chief for each game should be handed a tablet to watch the replay or maybe even the monitor at the stadium he’s at? Why haven’t they done this yet? The no pitch IBB is dumb. I don’t think it will last. This season will be a trial run.
If they want more fans, simply cut the cost of a ticket. If you lower it, they will come.
I was listening to the Tigers broadcast today and they said Brad Ausmus contacted Manfred about the new intentional walk rule change. Specifically he asked if a new pitcher who issues an intentional walk (without throwing any pitches) would have to throw a pitch at all before he is removed from the game and Manfred said no.
So I can see new problems arising from this such as a manager putting a lefty in vs a lefty batter to get the other manager to pinch hit and then issuing a free pass without the pitcher throwing a pitch and then pulling him out. The manager could use a non scheduled starter or a reliever who pitched back-to-back days and was not going to pitch that day so a bullpen wouldn’t really get affected by it, but a bench bat would get used up.
The opposing manager could also decided to leave his lefty batter in to face the new pitcher to force said pitcher to throw pitches (if it is a guy that wasn’t going to be used like a starter). Overall I doubt this would happen very often but potentially it could lengthen some games due to pitching changes and warm up pitches. Sorry for the lengthy comment.
Ausmus also said he could see it being used as a stall tactic to buy time for a reliever to get warm when a pitcher is in trouble by bringing in a starter to issue a free pass after taking his warm ups.
What’s next? Aluminum bats?
Starting in the 12gj inning the bat boy will become the DH
Why did we go to auto-IBB? Why? In what way does this improve the game?
Too many rule changes. Just play the game the way it’s usually played. Enough of these stupid rules.
Interesting. Sounds like majority hate this new rule change