No you won't. You'll see more flyouts.
New Rules for 2023
- Thread starter Yappi
- Start date
AEW Champion
Well-known member
Stop using souped up baseballs and you’ll see more hits!
You’ll see more hits unless they think their power hitter, which not many are. Those souped up balls make them think they are. As soon as the souped up balls are not used anymore, a light will go off a there be hitting like they did before.
The souped up balls are just one of many stupid thing the MLB has done.
Heck Pete Rose would lead on Home runs if he would have played with them souped up balls.
AEW Champion
Well-known member
It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
14Red
Well-known member
The salary structure of baseball must change.
- You must start making the highest paid players the ones who have high batting averages, on base percentages and runs scored. If a guy hits 40 home runs, strikes out 180 times and hits .210 don't reward that player.
- Pitchers - pay pitchers to give you 200 innings per season. We've gone way too soft on pitchers and potential injury. Pitchers do not throw enough today, they are not conditioned to throw.
wolves82
Well-known member
zero percent chance of this happening.
14Red
Well-known member
I realize that, but if you want to move the game back into the right direction, this is what has to happen. Lack of contact, strikeouts and an occasional home run is AWFUL to watch.
AEW Champion
Well-known member
It’ll be interesting to see if this decline of lefty hitters’ batting average on balls in play does an abrupt about face this season with the shift banned.
This is a good illustration of why the shift rules are being put in place.
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AEW Champion
Well-known member
If we get more at-bats this year that look like this one above, that’ll be a good thing for the game.
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AEW Champion
Well-known member
Do you guys like the clock being in prominent view for the TV viewer?
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wolves82
Well-known member
yes - keep them honest. maybe fans will chant "5..4..3..2..1" instead of the stupid wolf howl at GABP.
Sig Hansen
Well-known member
I don't think it will be long before MLB changes the rules to eliminate the pitch clock in the 9th inning or later. Possibly before the regular season. I LOVE the pitch clock, but nobody wants to see a game decided on a pitch clock violation, which is how the Braves lost yesterday. And you have to admit, it's a pretty significant change for some players to adjust to.
wolves82
Well-known member
Yeah terrible way to end a game (or any inning), and not what the MLB had in mind, I'm sure. Could you imagine a playoff game ending that way?
I also am in favor of the pitch clock to speed up the game. But something needs figured out here. Clock violation should not end a game or an inning with runners in scoring position. That is bad for the game.
How about this? If there are two outs, and two strikes, with runners in scoring position, a clock violation on the batter means that all subsequent batters in the inning start with an 0-1 count. Or an 0-2 count? That keeps the scoring chance alive, does not determine the outcome, but penalizes the offending team, and speeds up subsequent at bats, if there are any.
Similarly, any at bat with a 3 ball count and the bases loaded, a clock violation on the pitcher means that all subsequent ABs that inning start with a 2-0 count. Again, penalize the offending team, speed up the game, without determining the outcome of the run scoring.
I realize that these are very specific situations for the rules, but we have lived with the infield fly rule all these years...
AEW Champion
Well-known member
I saw on ESPN this morning that spring training gametime averages are down 23 minutes from last year’s spring training:
2022 spring training: 3 hours, 1 minute
2023 spring training: 2 hours, 38 minutes
So the rules are working great. And there’s been an average of just fewer than 2 violations per game, which isn’t bad at all as a starting point.
I’m not in favor of dropping the pitch clock late in the game or changing the rules for scoring opportunities. I don’t see why a team’s closer should get to play by a different set of rules than all the pitchers previously in the game faced. Or why a batter should get more time or a different penalty just because there are guys in scoring position.
The good news is that the players will learn and adjust, and violations during important times will be scarce if not entirely non-existent once the real games start.
This sort of parallels the NFL officiating controversy, specifically the Super Bowl ending on a defensive hold. Pretty much everyone admitted a clear hold occurred, even Beadberry himself. Yeah, it was a deflating finish. But we can’t expect the refs to swallow their whistle and essentially let the players play by a different set of rules just because it’s late in the game or a key situation.
It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
2022 spring training: 3 hours, 1 minute
2023 spring training: 2 hours, 38 minutes
So the rules are working great. And there’s been an average of just fewer than 2 violations per game, which isn’t bad at all as a starting point.
I’m not in favor of dropping the pitch clock late in the game or changing the rules for scoring opportunities. I don’t see why a team’s closer should get to play by a different set of rules than all the pitchers previously in the game faced. Or why a batter should get more time or a different penalty just because there are guys in scoring position.
The good news is that the players will learn and adjust, and violations during important times will be scarce if not entirely non-existent once the real games start.
This sort of parallels the NFL officiating controversy, specifically the Super Bowl ending on a defensive hold. Pretty much everyone admitted a clear hold occurred, even Beadberry himself. Yeah, it was a deflating finish. But we can’t expect the refs to swallow their whistle and essentially let the players play by a different set of rules just because it’s late in the game or a key situation.
It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
14Red
Well-known member
It's ridiculous, frankly. So people got all bent out of shape when a clear pass interference was called at a critical moment in the super bowl. So you think people will be fine when a player is called out on strikes for taking too long in a critical moment at the end of a baseball game??
This is literally making up rules to increase unnecessary excitement for a sport.
And I completely disagree, you will have some games come down to the end and there will be critical calls made in a sport where the players decide who wins most of the time. You're now artificially injecting umpires into the game and it's not necessary. Moreover, what if a player/ team does NOT have the violation called? With all the betting involved now, it will be easy for someone to be on the take.
I've said if from the get go, this is a terrible idea.
wolves82
Well-known member
This bolded sentence is literally the dumbest sentence you ever posted here, and that is saying quite a lot.
You think the pitch clock rule was made to create excitement? There is nothing exciting about watching a clock tick down. It was made a rule to stop all the time wasting by batters and pitchers between pitches, to speed up the game. AEW showed you that it is working. In case you haven't heard, baseball TV ratings have plummeted, primarily due to how long the games are and how slow the game is due to delays between pitches.
And what the heck is "unnecessary excitement"? LOL. Is it the opposite of "necessary excitement"? Wow. All sports need excitement. Baseball needs lots more excitement, too many walks and strikeouts, with not enough balls in play.
14Red
Well-known member
The rule changes that baseball has put in place will drastically change the game, the way it's played, the strategy, etc.
The thing you guys don't get, is THERE WERE rules in place to keep the game moving??? Why add a clock, why add additional administrative headaches to the game? Simply instruct the umpires to keep the games moving. If a pitcher/ batter was using an unreasonable amount of time, then address it there. You really want games in the 8th, 9th inning to be rushed along just so you can be done and move onto something else?
To me, this seems more about baseball making up rules to "stay interesting" to millennials.
wolves82
Well-known member
YES!! You got it. Because all of us old farts will not be around forever, so if the business of baseball wants to have a future, they need to appeal to the next generation(s) of fans.
2 hours 38 minutes it is!
The last time the MLB 9 inning game average was 2 hours 38 minutes was in 1985.
14Red
Well-known member
Ok, time aside, here is a rule change that's not talked about much, but does drastically change the game. So a pitcher can throw over to first base to try to pick off a runner only twice. If they do it a third time and do not get the runner, the runner is AWARDED 2nd base. So between this and the bases being larger, you will see alot of running this season.
brianwr112
Well-known member
They've tried using the umps to speed up the game. It wasn't working. All the players will adjust and you'll rarely see it called in the regular season. It's hilarious that you think players are going to be bought by gamblers looking for an edge. You think guys are going to throw away their career and go to federal prison over a $5-10K payoff?
You've shown you have absolutely no grasp of sports gaming which when thinking about it....goes along with your Reds posts
You've shown you have absolutely no grasp of sports gaming which when thinking about it....goes along with your Reds posts
14Red
Well-known member
I don't love the pitch clock, but I agree with your thoughts. We already get up in arms when people other than the players decide games. And now with sports betting being so promiant, what easier way to throw a game for an umpire than to call a violation on the pitcher or batter.
I think the other thing that no one is taking into consideration is the stragety, the thought process of pitching. There's a timing in baseball that allows pitchers to have time to contemplate their next pitch. With the pitch clock, you pretty much have to know what you are throwing on the next pitch, just getting a sign, or going through the signs more than once will cause a violation. Pitchers have less time to decide what to throw equals more offense IMO.
14Red
Well-known member
Another thing to consider with the pitch clock is a pitcher's endurance. Obviously the faster you work, the more you exert, in longer innings pitchers could slow the pace and work their way through rough patches. Now, pitchers will not have that luxury and will continue to pitch at a certain pace. To me that will be taxing on pitchers and possibly make managers / pitching coaches go to the mound more and sooner than they used to.
wolves82
Well-known member
Certainly endurance matters more now, but most pitchers are in great shape. The rules governing frequency of mound visits and pitching changes are the same as before so should be no impact on game length.
14Red
Well-known member
Great shape??? You mean these guys who can't throw more than100 pitches in a start, 25 pitches in an outing, rarely throw back to back days? My understanding is other than a mound visit, the pitcher will be either on the mound taking a sign, in the windup or delivering a pitch. There is no "extra" time for them to contemplate the next pitch or slow the momentum of the offense. Relief pitchers, notorious slow workers, will really have to change their ways.
wolves82
Well-known member
So you think all the pitch count limitations are due to physical fitness concerns? Wow you really are not paying attention.
Obviously pitch count limitations are100% due to injury concerns, specifically arm/shoulder injuries.
14Red
Well-known member
I think major league pitch counts is as much to do with creating and keeping pitching jobs as much as physical concerns. There are more pitchers with injuries TODAY - in a time when we've had pitch counts for kids since they picked a baseball up when they were 8 years old. The nutrition is better, the training is better, the training mechanisms are better -- yet we have injury after injury after injury. No idea how old you are, but look back in the 60's / 70's / 80's. There were 4 man rotations, pitchers not only threw 200 innings a season, but some threw 300 innings. There were no pitch counts, my guess is many of these guys threw 150-180 pitchers per outing. 9 times in his career, Nolan Ryan had double digit complete games in a season. A player today will likely not have 10 complete games in their career.
My feelings are that kids don't throw enough. No one ever truly gets their arm in shape to throw. And I don't mean being in shape to throw 100 MPH. I mean throwing 120, 130, 140 pitches.
My feelings are that kids don't throw enough. No one ever truly gets their arm in shape to throw. And I don't mean being in shape to throw 100 MPH. I mean throwing 120, 130, 140 pitches.
wolves82
Well-known member
I agree with you that kids need to throw more, not harder, and that MLB pitchers could pitch more than they do. No argument there.
But earlier you said the pitchers were not in great shape because they could not throw 100 pitches in a game. That is what I was disagreeing with. Now you seem to have changed your opinion, which is great.