MLB bungles new rules proposal
Major League Baseball is trying to make the game faster under new commissioner Rob Manfred, but it has made another idiotic mistake.
MLB has decided on two courses of action in this pursuit. The first is to get rid of the intentional walk as we know it, according to ESPN. Instead of the catcher putting up four fingers and then having the pitcher actually throw the four pitches, the team will be able to simply allow the batter to go to first base, should the new rule be put into action.
This is a smart move, the next decision is not. The second idea that Manfred wants to see go through is to shrink the strike zone from the bottom of the kneecap to the top of the kneecap. Why is this a poor idea? Because it is going to create more balls instead of strikes, which means longer games.
Manfred and MLB are hoping that a smaller strike zone will mean less pitches per game, with batters becoming more aggressive because more pitches are in the zone. However, there is talk that many batters will simply become even more disciplined at the plate, taking walks and driving up pitch counts even further, per the article by Jayson Stark.
“As a hitter, when you see the ball out of the pitcher’s hand and it’s going to be down, you usually think about taking it, because it’s harder to do damage with that pitch,” New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker said. “Us as hitters, we want that ball up, thigh or mid-thigh.”
The correct answer to this problem would be to actually enlarge the strike zone. Make the hitter start swinging at more pitches with the knowledge that borderline pitches in the past are going to be strikes. Baseball should go back to the old strike zone that is basically from the middle of the letters across the chest to the bottom of the kneecap. Allow pitchers to pound the zone.
The other problem with a smaller strike zone? Pitchers are going to fall behind in counts and start lobing meatballs for hitters. The game will take longer for the simple fact that more players are going to reach base, and more at-bats equals more time. In addition, poor pitching means more pitching changes, and that comes out to more commercials and warmup pitches.
Considering how long baseball has had to solve this problem, this proposal is incredibly short-sighted. How Manfred could believe this will fix a chronic issue that the game is facing is stunning and borderline alarming.
It’s a complete lack of awareness from the top all the way down.
