Posted on 05/22/2016 11:56:31 AM PDT by Mariner
According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, Major League Baseball is on the verge of making two rules changes that could only be described as ground-breaking.
In a report filed on Friday, Stark says that the league's competition committee reportedly agreed to alter the strike zone and eliminate the four-pitch intentional walk during their meetings with owners this week. Those two changes could be implemented as early as the 2017 season.
The strike zone is currently defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's knees and the midpoint of their torso. Of course, if you asked most baseball fans what the strike zone is right now, most wouldn't be able to tell you. That's because there's long been inconsistency from umpire-to-umpire, and sometimes even pitch-to-pitch.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Talk about sinking rapidly, Zach Britton, left handed closer for the AL Orioles, looks like he’s throwing in the dirt most of the time but, even hitters agree, the movement on his breaking ball is unbelievably sharp. Almost unhittable much of the time. He is truly one of the premier pitchers in all of baseball.
I realize the shift is nothing new in baseball (recall how teams shifted for Ted Williams as an example) but today it seems to be used everywhere. Its perfectly OK to shift players where you want them however it does seem to be another advantage that pitchers have, especially given all the defensive alignments that are normally made based off of hitters’ tendencies on various counts. Bottom line, I think elevating the strike zone slightly may bring a little more balance between hitters and pitchers into the game and make it more exciting for fans.
Regards.
Call the strike zone as it was originally defined from knees to armpits, and the games would get shorter.
WOW...not many know or remember him. For a kid living/breathing all things baseball, I still have vivid memories of the Phils from the early 60's and great memories of being in the $1.00 left field bleachers at Connie Mack Stadium with my grandfather. The great memories were the times spent with my grandfather, certainly not the Phillies...
I have always hated the gutless intentional walk.
Now they have charts for umpire tendencies, I just saw a game in the Marlin’s park where they showed them hanging up in the dugout.
I guess we disagree about actually calling strikes by the book would do. Maybe one day we’ll see. I tend to think at this level there would be a massive adjustment needed, and I don’t think today’s players would do it too easily. Look how many pull hitters can actually put the ball in play the other way with all this drastic shifting.
Now we have situations where the dumb ump is hanging over the plate trying to see the play at home and he blocks out the replay angle that will let NY call it. Good grief.
Freegards
I think MLB should institute a rule that gives the batter the option to attempt to take first on a past ball/wild pitch.
It would liven things up even more.
One of the charms of baseball is the strategy that is involved.
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I don’t recall the names of the pitcher, batter or coach/manager. However, I do recall the game where the Oakland As were in a post season game. ...Sorry for lack of detail, but I think this was in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s.
Other team had men on base with 2 outs and dangerous hitter was at bat. The coach or manager talked to pitcher and catcher and they indicated they would intentionally walk the batter, who already had two strikes. The pitcher threw a couple of wide pitches and the batter figured the next one would walk him, so was not paying attention. ....Instead, the pitcher smoked a fast ball right across the plate and ended the inning. .....I fell off the couch laughing!
It was the 1970 World Series between the A's and the Reds. Johnny Bench was the batter.
there are many big leaguers who don’t even know the game’s history.
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That’s because so many of them are from foreign countries.
It was the 1970 World Series between the A’s and the Reds. Johnny Bench was the batter.
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Thanks for that! I started to say it was a WS game, but just wasn’t sure. That was a good example of how strategy works in a ball game!
I expect there is a Rump Ranger or three in baseball.
The odds of there *not* being one are astronomical.
I am speaking of the full Monty, hormone swilling, bra packing, high heels wearing, skirt swishing transexyouall.
The Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner of baseball.
The one who wants to wear a pleated skirt instead of pants with their uniform jersey.
The one who wants a pink ball glove. Or a leather jock worn *outside* the uniform.
You just know there’s one out there somewhere just looking for a way to get on an MLB roster.
The tranny version of a Mikey Sams for MLB.
Of course. But they want to be able to brag about having the first openly gay player currently on the roster it, and so far no club has done that.
As far as a male ballplayer claiming to be a woman ballplayer, or a woman claiming to be a man ballplayer, I would hazard that the difficultity of playing at the major leugue level will be a barrier.
Freegards
You do know that the NFL teams fill those stadiums 16 times in a regular season while baseball teams do it 162 times in a season, right? Sure baseball doesn’t have the average per-game attendance that football does but it plays many more games.
What we will likely see—especially now with hitters now limited due to severe PED drug testing—is either a ban or severe restrictions on defensive shifts. And MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is open to the idea of limiting defensive shifts now because the rate of run scoring have fallen through the floor.
I was just commenting on how when I was a kid, baseball was a BIG deal.
Probably still as popular as football.
Now NFL ball is much more popular.
I may be biased, as I grew up as a Reds fan in the '70s.
The stands at Riverfront were VERY filled for every game.
And it was one of the "ashtray" style dual use stadiums that MUST have been torn down, because "ugly" or whatever.
53K capacity for baseball.
It would have been unthinkable to cover up the higher decks due to low attendance.
My observation is that now that the owners have extorted untold billions to build awesome new baseball only stadiums, they simply don't put as many butts in seats as they did 40 years ago.
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