MLB will use minors as a laboratory to test new ideas
It’s hard to find a more fundamental rule in baseball than this one: Ninety feet between the bases.
Well — er, uh — not any more.
How about 90 feet between some of the bases? How about 89 feet and nine inches between others?
That’s what you’re going to see if you attend a Trenton Thunder game this year.
For one year the Thunder will be a Triple-A team. Actually, the “Thunder” will be the Buffalo Bisons, a Triple-A team that will base itself in Trenton while its own ballpark is undergoing renovations.
It just so happens that this is the year the Triple A leagues have been ordered to experiment with larger and less slippery bases and help the major leagues determine if they want to adopt those changes for The Show. Thus, in Trenton, we’ll be able to witness this experiment up close.
All three base bags will be 18 inches square, which is an extra three inches on every side. They will also be made of a different material designed to be less slippery when they get wet.
The intent is to make the game safer. Making the sacks less slippery is a nobrainer. It could lessen the chance of injury and otherwise will probably have no impact on the game.
But changing the size of the bases is another matter. Baseball is often a game of inches and when you change the inches you’re changing the game.
Again, the motivation is player safety. Much of the action is centered around the bases. Base runners and fielders are both required to step on the bases and sometimes they’re trying to do it at the same time. Sometimes feet get stepped on. Sometimes legs become entangled. Sometimes people are injured.
The hope is a larger bag provides players with a larger target and they will be less likely to aim simultaneously for the same part of the base. It remains to be seen how much this will impact the game but there can be no doubt it will have an impact.
The front of every base will be in its traditional location, which is why the distance from home to first and from third to home will remain at 90 feet. But fielders covering first base will be able to position themselves three inches closer to throw. On bang-bang plays that’s enough to reverse the order of the bangs. There will be fewer infield hits and more double plays.
Once on base, however, the runner will be able to take advantage of the size of the base by extending his lead by three inches. That might not sound like much but on a stolen base attempt three inches can be vital. Moreover, a runner attempting to go from first to third on a hit, will actually have an extra six inches to work with.
Triple-A won’t be Major League Baseball’s only laboratory this year. Potential new rules will be explored in every minor league.
In Double-A, infielders will be required to have both feet on the infield dirt when a pitch is delivered. This will prevent teams from employing a “short fielder” — a second baseman or third baseman placed in shallow right field against a left-handed pull hitter. Interestingly, there is no accompanying provision against having three infielders on the same side of the infield. This means most shifting will still be allowed. Only the most radical alignments will be outlawed. In fact, most shifts currently used against right-handed hitters will remain unchanged.
There’s one potential snag in this rule. Traditionally the outer edge of the infield dirt is 90 feet from pitcher’s mound but that is a tradition — not a rule. The home team can grow grass anywhere it chooses and place dirt anywhere it chooses.
Before this rule, or one like it, can be adopted for major league play, there must be a rule specifying where the infield dirt can and can’t be,
If you enjoy watching base stealing then this year’s Class A leagues are for you.
In the High A leagues a pitcher will not be permitted to make a pickoff throw without first stepping off the rubber. Obviously, that will allow runners to be more aggressive on the bases.
Runners might be even more aggressive in the Low A leagues. There’s no stepoff requirement at that level but there is a limit on the number of pickoff attempts allowed. A pitcher gets one “free” pickoff attempt with each batter’s plate appearance. If he makes a second attempt with the same batter at the plate a balk will be called unless that attempt results in an out.
Zounds. This sounds to me like Low A baseball will resemble a track meet. A base stealer will be taking very little risk if he breaks on the pitcher’s first move. I wonder
if calling a balk as the penalty for a second unsuccessful pickoff is too harsh. It seems to me that adding a ball to the hitter’s count would limit pickoff throws but still allow pitchers to keep runners in check.
Last week wasn’t a good one for major league umpires. Both the Mets and Phillies won games on what appeared to be bad calls that were not overturned by television replay.
The Mets beat the Marlins when Michael Conforto was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning with the bases loaded. Replay showed clearly that Conforto was hit only because he thrust his elbow into the path of the pitch — probably deliberately. However, baseball rules do not permit a video review of such a play. The umpire’s ruling, which he later admitted was a mistake, had to stand.
Three days later, on national TV, Alex Bohm of the Phillies broke an eighth-inning tie when he scored from third on a sacrifice fly. The run was allowed to stand even though TV replay clearly showed, or so it seemed, that Bohm had missed the plate and should have been called out. The play was submitted for a video review only to have the umpire in New York conclude that the outcome was inconclusive and the original call stood. It’s mind-boggling to me that anyone could have looked at those pictures and felt there was any chance that Bohm had tagged the plate.
I agree that umpiring is a tough job. An umpire sometimes has to consider multiple factors simultaneously and it’s inevitable
that he’ll get some of his calls wrong. That’s supposed to be the reason why video review exists. To use technology to undo human error and make sure the correct ruling is the one that is applied.
Unfortunately there now seems to be a new dimension to human error. The system is only as good as the common sense of those who operate it.
Joe Musgrove of the Padres last week threw the first major league no-hitter since Alex Mills of the Cubs whitewashed the Brewers on Sep. 13, 2020. Those two gems had something in common.
In both cases the catcher was Victor Caratini.
Caratini isn’t the first player to catch two consecutive no-hitters, but he is the first to do it with two different clubs.
A FEW STATISTICS (Wednesday’s games not included): Besides Musgrove, Lance Lynn of the White Sox is the only other pitcher to throw a complete game...Corbin Burns of the Brewers has allowed only two hits and one walk in 121⁄3 innings pitched. Nevertheless, his record is 0-1...Byron Buxton of the Twins has 15 hits in 32 at bats. Ten of those hits have gone for extra bases...The Astros are 1-4 at home but 5-1 on the road. The Phillies are exactly the opposite: 5-1 at home but 1-4 on the road...The Giants have won seven games. Jake McGee has saved five of them...Wilson Ramos of the Tigers leads the majors in home runs with six. Five of them have come with no one on base...The Cubs team batting average is .167...Connor Brogdon of the Phillies has pitched only 51⁄3 innings, all in relief. Still he leads the National League in wins with three... Angels pitchers have thrown 10 wild pitches in 99 innings...The Yankees are still looking for their first sacrifice fly...The Cardinals have only nine doubles but 15 homers...The Red Sox have allowed only six homers in 94 innings...Nick Madrigal of the White Sox has struck out only once in 37 plate appearances... The Giants have turned only two double plays.