Atlantic League to move mound back

The pitching rubber will be bounced back a bit this summer in an experiment at the minor league level that will be implemented in conjunction with Major League Baseball.

Instead of the regular 60 feet, six inches between the top of the mound and home plate, as is standard from high school play up through professional baseball, MLB will ask the independent

Atlantic League to move its mound back to 61 feet, six inches.

The change will be made only for the second half of the season with data being compared against data from the first half when the mound will be at the regular distance.

“We expect to learn a great deal about the impacts of such a change and whether an adjustment to this critical field dimension is worth potential future consideration at other levels of professional baseball,” said MLB rules consultant Theo Epstein.