SPORTS ROCKIES WILL ADJUST TO NEW MOUND-VISIT RULE
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.» Bud Black loves baseball for the space between action, the beats and pauses where strategy becomes paramount. The manager of the Rockies uses those moments trying to alter the course of a game.
“Some of the beauty of the game is the interactions that do, at times, cause a pause in the game,” Black said Monday at Salt River Fields.
But Major League Baseball on Monday announced a significant rule change, hoping that it makes the pace of play faster.
Visits to the mound — by a manager, coach, catcher or infielder — will be limited to six for each team in each game. If a game goes to extra innings, the teams will be allowed one more visit to the mound per inning. The visits don’t include pitching changes.
Tony Clark, the director of the baseball players union, responded by saying: “Players were involved in the pace-of-game discussions from Day One. And are committed to playing a crisp and exciting brand of baseball for the fans, but they remain concerned about rule changes that can alter the outcome of games and the fabric of the game itself — now or in the future.”
Reaction from the Rockies was mixed. Second baseman DJ LeMahieu wondered aloud what, technically, entails a “mound visit.” Can he say something to a pitcher while tying his shoe?
(Yes.) Is there an invisible line in the grass he can’t cross before it becomes an official visit? (Maybe; the rule says neither player nor pitcher can “relocate.”)
“That’s strange,” said pitcher Jon Gray. “Is there a time limit on the mound visit? I don’t see a big deal with it. There may be some other way we have to communicate. I don’t know yet.”
Catcher Chris Iannetta reiterated that MLB players are in favor of trying to speed up the game. But he demurred when asked whether this is the method he’d have chosen. The ingame maneuvering from the mound, pitch by pitch and batter to batter, determines the outcome. Pitch sequences and signals, mechanical adjustments, shifting strategy and pickoff signs can be communicated on a visit to the mound.
“They bring a lot of valuable information to me. It does help,” Gray said. “It’s something we’ll have to be aware of, because you don’t want to waste a mound visit. You have to make sure it’s something you really want to say.”
MLB and commissioner Rob Manfred have toyed with the idea of a pitch clock for years, something that was first rolled out in the minor leagues. Most big-league players objected. The new rules skirted that idea. But MLB was adamant about finding other avenues to quicken the pace.
Some players, though, are pushing back. Royals pitcher Danny Duffy spoke forcefully last week about his disgust for the idea of changing rules to speed up the game.
“I just don’t get it, ” Duffy told The Kansas City Star. “I don’t know what (Manfred’s) obsession with shortening games is, and I just don’t understand it. It doesn’t seem to be as much of an obsession when it’s a national broadcast and the commercials go for two minutes. And we’re ready on the mound and we’ve got to wait around. But it’s all about money. Bunch of crap. It angers me.”
Black said he uses visits to the mound to guide a game to the end. He isn’t wasting visits. During a July 4 game at Coors Field last year, Black walked to the mound to dress down rookie pitcher Kyle Freeland. It became a pivotal moment in the Rockies’ season. It worked. Five days later, Freeland nearly threw a nohitter in Denver.
“Those are strategic and important to the outcome of a game. That’s what I don’t want to mess with,” Black said. “There are a lot of games won or lost with that delay of coaches or players talking about specific moments in the game. You can look at this both ways. There’s a great tradition to this game and how it’s played — the pace of it and the timing. That part of the game I love.”
Black isn’t opposed to propelling the game into new avenues, he said, and he won’t be a traditionalist just for the sake of it. He’s all for shaving minutes off a game, if done smartly. Gray, though, likes how the game is played, whether as a pitcher on the mound or watching from the dugout.
“People who love baseball and always have will love it the way it is,” Gray said. “I don’t think it really needs to get any more exciting.”