MLB Changes The Rules For 2016

3 of 3

Oct. 14, 2014; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Detailed view of the pitch clock in a dugout being tested during an Arizona Fall League game between the Surprise Saguaros against the Salt River Rafters at Salt River Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Beat The Clock

Changes were also make to the pace of play rules first introduced last year and they seem pretty simple.

Coaching visits to the mound are limited to 30 seconds

Broadcast breaks between innings were cut by 20 seconds, I couldn’t find anything that addressed coaching visits and broadcast breaks for pitching changes so I guess we have to wait and see.

MLB tells us that last year’s changes – the batter’s box rule, decreased break time between innings and pitching changes and pitches – resulted in an average reduction in the length of games of six minutes – down to 2:56:14 from 3:02:21. Be still my heart; I don’t like long boring games either but I doubt anyone noticed the six minutes they gained.

Next: The Braves Top Five

That’s A Wrap

When I was beating the drum for change – mostly alone and unheard – after the Kang slide last year and again after the vicious Utley slide critics said it would make the game soft. Now I’m hearing that it will make the game more dangerous. Which is it? The answer is neither. As I wrote then:

"To those that have told me this will make the game soft; get real. The game is played by men who get hit by 95 MPH fastballs and get back in the batter’s box, pitcher’s who take line drives off their head and pitch again in three weeks and outfielders who run into walls trying to catch a fly ball. Soft? Go Away! There will still be hard slides at second base and infielders leaping over them. There will still be collisions around the bag but those will be incidental to the play and not seven feet away from the bag."

I don’t care how MLB spins the need for new wording in order to make it look like a real change has been made as long as we stop injuring middle infielders and punish offenders.

As far as pace of game is concerned, if you want to shorten games make every relief pitcher face two hitters unless he faces the last batter of an inning. Don’t throw rocks at me. anyone who watched Tony La Russa change pitchers for every batter from the seventh inning on knows how annoying it really is.

Home/Braves News