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Atlanta Braves Spring Chop: Notes to Cap Off a Monday

By Alan Carpenter

MIAMI, FL - JULY 09: Ronald Acuna #24 of the Atlanta Braves and the World Team looks on against the U.S. Team during the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Marlins Park on July 9, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - JULY 09: Ronald Acuna #24 of the Atlanta Braves and the World Team looks on against the U.S. Team during the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Marlins Park on July 9, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 31: The Kansas City Royals infield stands have a meeting on the mound against the New York Mets during Game Four of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field on October 31, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 31: The Kansas City Royals infield stands have a meeting on the mound against the New York Mets during Game Four of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field on October 31, 2015 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

Mound Visits? Not Entirely Settled

In case you missed it… and in that case you really need to spend more hours awake during the day… baseball has added a couple of new rules for 2018.  I had thought we had most of this figured out by now, but maybe not.

No I would definitely understand that some – many – teams may not like the rules imposing 6 mound visits or fewer, but the rules were fairly detailed.

But the devil is in the details, and the details can cause some problems, particularly when some particular umpires are involved.

There is a good chance that Molitor could be concerned about a few things like this:

  • What does it mean for a player to ‘leave his position’ – particularly when defensive shifting is happening?
  • How far can a fielder stray toward the mound before it gets charged as a mound visit?
  • Can defensive positioning instructions be relayed to a pitcher without it counting as a mound visit?
  • Infield in, third baseman in close, double-play depth, in at the corners all changing infielder positioning… how will the umpires be instructed to call it when players that are in close (like on the grass) and converse with a pitcher?
  • After a play, can an infielder walk a ball back to the pitcher without getting charged for the ‘visit’?
  • What are the expected penalties for violating the 6 visit rule?  Can the umpires actually forbid a 7th visit?

More from Tomahawk Take

There are ways that teams will be trying to ‘game the system’, too… after all, many mound visits in the past have been done for no other purpose than to insure that a relief pitcher has sufficient time to be properly warmed up.  And that’s all about both injury prevention and effectiveness for the reliever.

So you’ll see a lot of stepping off.  You’ll see a lot of useless throws to first base.  You might see a pitcher request a new baseball.  He might clean off perfectly clean spikes.

There could be a blister concern that suddenly and magically crops up… the trainer should have a look at that.  Plus – that old rosin bag is going to see more visits than the pitcher himself.

This is what happens when you push.  You get push-back.

Next: How's Gohara's Groin Goin'?

You think there were pace-of-play issues before?  Wait until those late innings this season.

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