Bombers concerned by rule shift

TAMPA — There won’t be a pitch clock this season, but MLB took steps on Monday to speed up pace of play and one of them could impact the Yankees more than many other teams.

The Commissioner’s Office announced that teams will be limited to six mound visits per nineinning game, with one visit added for every extra inning.

Since those visits include those made by infielders and the catcher, it means Gary Sanchez won’t be able to stroll to the mound an unlimited amount of times — as he did last year.

The new rules count a mound visit as any time a coach or player leaves “his position to confer with the pitcher, including a pitcher leaving the mound to confer with another player.”

Exceptions include “discussions between pitchers and position players that … occur between batters in the normal course of play and do not require either the position player or the pitcher to relocate.”

If a team has used up its visits and the home-plate umpire determines that a pitcher and catcher have been crossed up on a pitch, a visit will be permitted.

“We will adjust well,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “We will be ready. I won’t go too far down into specifics on how we will do it. That’s all part of our job, to prepare Gary and all our players. We have to make adjustments and that is what major league athletes have to do all the time. … It’s a new way of doing things.”

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild admitted it would be “a major adjustment.”

“It impacts your bunt plays,” Rothschild said. “It impacts when runners are given signs. … The hard part is that in spring training, you are not going to have it impacted so much because there are so many pitching changes.”

➤ Brett Gardner understands his role heading into a season hitting in the same lineup as Aaron

Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. “I wish I could feel what they feel when they hit a baseball,” Gardner said of the sluggers. “It’s pretty humbling for me to get in there sandwiched between those two guys. It reminds me my job is to get on base and let those guys hit the ball over the fence.”