The MLB Pace of Game Committee, charged with finding ways to make baseball a game with more action and less standing around, has proposed six new rule changes which will be experimented with at the Arizona Fall League.
The AFL takes place between October 7th and November 15th.
As for the rule changes themselves, some seem interesting while others will likely be met with a lot of resistance. None of them are binding.
First, a batter must always have one foot in the batter’s box. Exceptions for this rule include foul balls, wild pitches or a pitcher forcing a batter out of the box.
Second, a pitcher won’t have to throw four pitches to draw an intentional walk. The manager of the pitching team will signal the umpire whenever they want to issue an intentional walk.
Third, there will be a maximum break of two minutes and five seconds between innings. If a hitter isn’t in the box in a timely manner, the umpire will call a strike. If the pitcher isn’t on the mound, the umpire will call a ball.
Fourth, teams will only get three timeouts per game, which can be used towards mound conferences between pitchers, managers and catchers. Pitching changes won’t count towards that total.
Fifth, relief pitchers will get exactly two and a half minutes to warm up on the mound before throwing their first pitch.
Sixth, pitchers will have twenty seconds to deliver a pitch. There will be a clock installed on the field which the pitcher will be able to view so he knows how much time has to throw.
In all, the rules seem to be emphasizing minimizing downtime and breaks in action over compelling the players to pick up the pace (outside of the sixth rule, which let’s face it, will probably never be enforced on a major league level). The intentional walk rule would be great and makes all the sense in the world. Having actual structure in what is often a purposely structure-less game would at least help bring an actual tempo to baseball. And, if implemented, it will be really funny seeing batters trip over themselves to try and keep one foot in the batter’s box as they absentmindedly step away after each pitch.
[Deadspin]
