MLB CLARIFIES SLIDE RULE, TIGHTENS MOUND VISITS

The Chase Utley rule, which, governs what constitutes a legal slide on a potential double play, and a 30-second clock for visits to the pitcher’s mound will be in place this season, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced Thursday. Under the new slide rule, “Slides on potential double plays will require runners to make a bona fide attempt to reach and remain on the base.” The rule comes months after Utley, a Los Angeles Dodg- ers infielder, slid late into the New York Mets’ Ruben Tejada in last season’s playoffs, a collision that left Tejada with a broken leg and the Mets fan base enraged. “Runners may still initiate contact with the fielder as a consequence of an otherwise permissible slide,” MLB and the MLBPA said in the news release. “A runner will be specifically prohibited from changing his pathway to the base or utilizing a ‘roll block’ for the purpose of initiating contact with the fielder.” The umpire can rule out both the runner and the batter who put the ball in play.