Atlanta Braves will have to deal with pace of play rule changes for 2018

The pace-of-play rule changes have been announced.  Let the complaints begin.

The Atlanta Braves – and 29 other teams – will have to work within a new slate of runs intended to pick up the pace of the game for 2018.  But unless Rob Manfred suddenly ceases to be the Commissioner of Baseball, don’t expect this to be the end of the conversation.

Meghan has the summary in this tweet, but let’s take a look here:

• 6 mound visits without a pitching change.  Right away, that means “pitching changes don’t count against that number”.
• For extra inning games, you get one more visit per inning.

Now are these visits initiated by coach or manager the only ones that count?  Ah, check the definition in paragraph (2) above:

• A “player leaving his position to confer with another player, including a pitcher leaving the mound to confer with another player, shall also constitute a mound visit”.

In other words, if an infielder wants to advise about a particular fielding alignment situation or to give a quick word of encouragement, or if a catcher wants a quick consult – these count.  Brian McCann’s frequent chat sessions are now on the clock.

Exceptions:

• Spike cleaning in muddy situations
• Consults between batters
• Discussions yelled between players if nobody leaves their position
• Mound visits after an offensive substitution.  You know about these:  a pinch hitter is brought in – perhaps a new call-up hitter – and somebody runs out to give the quick scouting report on the guy.  These don’t count.

If a catcher gets ‘crossed up’ with the signs… he calls for a curve and gets the express, for instance… we usually see a mound visit to get that sorted.  However, these new rules require…

• …that it counts against the 6 visits…
• …unless the home plate umpire allows an extra visit once the 6 are used up.

Frankly, I can’t see the umps – well, maybe Angel Hernandez – denying a visit for that purpose since he doesn’t want to get hit by an unexpected pitch himself, but that could be an opportunity for savvy batteries to ‘game’ the system by feigning a ‘cross up’ situation.

If a staff – including the bullpen – has its act together sufficiently, then such cross up events should be resolved quickly by the catcher standing up and hollering ‘use the Rome signs’ or something like that.

But that’s not how this has been resolved so far over the 140-odd year history of baseball, so don’t expect it to change for Manfred, either.

But Wait, There’s More

• 2:05 breaks between innings, with details on milestone within that time period shown here.
• Pitchers are no longer guaranteed the current 8 warm-up pitches.
• Pitcher will be advised when his last warm-up pitch is happening (25 seconds remaining between innings).
• Batter must approach the box as the last warm-up pitch is thrown.
• Pitcher must be ready to go once the batter is ready in the box.

Exceptions:

• Any reasonable special circumstance… medical, grounds-keeping, etc.
• Umpire judgment (risk of injury possibility, other special need)

So that’s it… we’re picking up the pace between innings, which is good, and limiting mound visits… which could be okay.

The latter will definitely help a perceived “pace” of the play on the field; the latter will shorten games, but not change fan perceptions since the between-inning times do not involve the issues that the Commissioner wanted to solve… or so we thought.

Next: Peetuh!

But still:  I seriously doubt that this is the end.  The Commish has a serious burr in his saddle on this topic and does not want to let go of it.