Major League Baseball Competition Committee approved sweeping rule changes Friday is expected to take effect in 2023. You’d be hard-pressed to find too many players agnostic about the new rules coming into the sport in a year’s time.
As base sizes will increase and pitchers will be limited in the number of “disengagements” they can have per plate appearance, the two most discussed changes are the banning of drastic defensive overtaking in the infield and the introduction of a pitch clock.
The days of having three fielders on the right side of the infield – perhaps even with one in shallow right field – will end at the end of the 2022 World Series. Starting in 2023, the infields must now have “two fielders on either side of the second base bag with both feet on the ground.”
“I mean, I think it’s a pretty split topic depending on who you talk to, pitcher or hitter,” Rhys Hoskins said Saturday at Phillies Nation. “I tend to like it because I think it allows the athletes that we have in this game to be the athletes that they are. I completely understand using change as a way to gain a defensive advantage. But you also just take into account the instincts of baseball IQ – some of the things we learned as players growing up – you take away a little bit with that.
For Hoskins, there will undoubtedly be some adjustments to make defensively as a first baseman when balls are hit to the right side of the infield. But the 29-year-old could very well have a few extra hits per season up the middle, with two defenders expected to be on either side of the second base bag.
Of course, the hitters who will benefit the most from banning infield shifts are power lefties. Ryan Howard trending on Twitter Friday After the new changing rules were announced, many are wondering how many extra hits the former National League MVP would have had if he had played under the rules set to take effect in 2023.
But aside from Joey Gallo, perhaps no one in the sport will benefit more from eliminating drastic speed changes on the field than Kyle Schwarber.
“I don’t think you’re going to ask a left-handed hitter who’s going to be upset about it,” Schwarber said. “Just because you now take someone out of the short right field position and put them down — now there won’t be three guys standing on that side. So for me, I think lefties will definitely benefit from this. And I think you’re going to see that infielders are now going to be judged a little bit more on range and things like that.
“Am I for it? Absolutely, just because I’m left-handed. But I’m not just going to be happy about it. This is a good thing for lefties, and we’ll go from there.
Although someone like Schwarber should benefit from the new changeup rules, pitchers like Aaron Nola, tasked with trying to get left-handed hitters out, will no longer be able to assume they’ve won the battle when a pitch is struck. the ground on the right side of the infield.
“I mean, I guess it’s always good and bad, right?” With changes and no changes, people get angry when the team is moved and the ball goes through the hole and vice versa,” Nola said. “It’ll never be perfect, but maybe it will create more ground balls more often and guys will try to put the ball in play. I don’t know.”
What Nola does know is that he doesn’t like the pitch clock that goes into effect in 2023, which will change the dynamic he’s had on the mound over his first eight Major League seasons .
“I don’t really like it, to be honest,” Nola said bluntly. “I guess we’ll see how it goes in spring training.”
After being successfully implemented at lower levels of the minor leagues, the pitch clock will reach its biggest milestone in 2023. Pitchers will have 15 seconds to throw the ball when no one is on base, and 20 seconds with a or more runners on base. .
As noted by Hannah Keyser and Zach Crizer of Yahoo! Sports, if the timer expires without a pitch having been thrown and it is considered to be the fault of the pitcher or catcher, a ball will be called. If the batter is guilty, a strike will be called.
It is unclear whether these rules would have been approved if all players in the league had voted directly. The four player representatives on the competition committee — Whit Merrifield, Tyler Glasnow, Austin Slater and Jack Flaherty — all voted against banning the shift and introducing the pitch clock, according to ESPNby Jeff Passan.
But in the end, player representatives were outvoted and players will be forced to adapt to the new rules in 2023.
“Like everything else, it’ll definitely be an adjustment,” Hoskins said. “But we will just have to learn to play within these rules of the game.”
Players and fans are creatures of habit. But it’s funny, some rule changes have been debated for years, even decades. Many fans and some players have made it their core beliefs for years that the DH should not come to the NL. Now that it’s universal, there aren’t many fans or players who yearn for the days of pitchers hitting.
“No, I don’t,” Nola replied with a smile when asked if he missed hitting. “Honestly, I don’t. No.”
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