The pandemic had a heavy toll on baseball last year. Several rule changes are implemented to handle COVID protocols, try to limit the length of games, and make accommodations for COVID outbreaks. Major League Baseball also lost a year of the minor leagues where rules are tested for evaluation, like any minor league, for the big leagues.
Many of the rules are staying in place. MLB is making up for the lost time in the minor leagues with several changes. Like a hundred years ago, a pandemic, cheating scandal means that MLB is going to be about the foreign substances that pitchers place on the baseball.
Thankfully no rules changes to the All-Star game. Caught a break there!
Let’s take a close look at post-pandemic baseball rules!
MLB Rules Adjustments
Except for the elimination of the universal DH not much has changed at the Major League level for the Championship Season.
COVID issues bring us a few new titles:
- Infection Control Prevention Coordinator
- Compliance Officer
- Facemask Enforcement Officer
These positions are to make sure teams are following the COVID procedures and protocols. Teams will be disciplined for failing to monitor and enforce compliance.
Facemasks have to be worn at all times when doing team-related activities. They are not mandatory when on the field. Violations are automatic fines that are donated to charity.
Players and team personal will get COVID test about every other day. A positive test requires 10-day quarantine. If somebody is in close contact with a confirmed COVID case, seven days of quarantine and must test negative on day 5 or later to require Club facilities.
Everybody gets to wear Kinexon contact tracing devices in club facilities, during club-related travel, and group activities. This is to increase the effectiveness and scope of contact tracing. Reportedly Eric Arthur Blair is the author of the contract tracing policy, but that remains unconfirmed.
Yet again, no exchanging of lineup cards at home plate. This will be done via an MLB mobile app.
There are numerous rules related to indoor gatherings, outside of the work-related events, limiting it to 10 people at indoor restaurants, bars, and lounges, fitness and wellness centers, entertainment venues, gaming venues — casinos — and any local/state prohibited areas. Staying at the hotel while on the road, except for team activities and you can only go to your hotel room. No late-night Mario Kart with teammates.
Now to the baseball-related rules changes.
Seven inning Double Headers are back to give people something else to argue about. Extra innings runner at second base is back to sneer its toothless grin at the purist. Good news! Positional player requirements introduced last year must be extra inning and six-run differential, are gone. So, hopefully, more positional players pitching. The three batter minimum of new pitchers gets a second season.
On the roster side, we still have 26 man rosters that expand to 28 in September. Removed is the limit of 13 pitchers from last year. Unlimited pitchers. During a COVID outbreak among a team, teams may add players to the Major League Active list without waivers, outrighting, or options. There is now a five-man taxi squad that teams can use on road trips.
Taxi squad players can travel with the team and work out with the team, but may not be in uniform for the game. At the end of road trips, the players return to the Alternate Training Site. If a team uses the taxi squad, one player must be the designed catcher and had been a catcher BEFORE the season started. The designated catcher can be in uniform as the bullpen catcher. This was used last year, to make sure that teams could have some quickly available players on road trips in case of COVID-related roster needs.
Not a lot of changes, mainly some minor tweaking and expanded protocols for COVID.
At the time of this writing, the Postseason is slated to not be expanded like last year. Of course, last year started that way also.
Social Distancing and Sanitary Baseballs
Staying at the Major Leagues level, MLB had two big enforcement areas it said it will concentrate on.
Firstly, fights between teams and arguments with the umpires are a big no-no. Well, if you can do with separated by six feet it’s okay. The important part here is social distancing. Get in an umpire’s face to argue, flex in front of any opposing player? You can be expelled from the game. You’ll also face discipline that can include fines and suspensions.
Secondly, the is concern that some pitchers may be using foreign substances to increase the spin on the ball. This, oddly, is the exact opposite reason they placed the foreign substance rule into existence. Usually one was trying to throw a knuckleball with the add of lubrication. Now, MLB wants to check for the exact opposite thing.
Compliance officers will monitor dugouts, clubhouses, tunnels, bullpens, and batting cages. Spin rates of pitches will be checked against a database of Statcast data from the pitcher looking for suspect balls. If a pitch looks tainted, it will be pulled. A random sample of balls will also be pulled during the game. Balls pulled from the game will be examined by compliance officers and a lab for foreign substances. The memo released to the teams was not specific to any course of discipline a pitcher might receive, but one would suspect files first and repeated offenders could face suspension.
MiLB Rules Changes: The Future is Coming
In the minor leagues, a slew of new rules focusing on game speed, increasing steals, and improving the chances of balls in play was introduced.
The bases get bigger in AAA this year. Normally the bases on 15-inch squares, but they’ll be increased to 18 inches this year. The material the bases are made out of will provide better grip, particularly when they are wet. Stickier bases will help reduce injuries when the baserunner’s feet might split off the base. The grip on the bases would help when sliding, possibly eliminating some of the outs when a player losses touch with a base of a split second. The larger size gives the runner a bit more room to touch the base and this could lead to more steals and a higher success rate for bunts and ground outs.
In all the AA leagues, the infielders must have all their cleats completely on the infield dirt when a pitch is thrown. This will eliminate infielders playing in the outfield. This rule could change. In the current wording, players can still shift and have three players on either side of second base. This could change and force the defense to have two infielders on each side of second base. Forcing fielders to remain two on each side raises the possibility of having players shift after the pitch is released. With fielders forced to be on the infield, some of the batted balls that end up being handled by a fielder playing in the outfield grass becoming hits. If the rule is later changed to enforce where the fielders are placed on the field, this will eliminate some of the outs caused by the shift. Either way, this could increase a player’s BABIP in the AA, which could cause some adjustment issues if they are moved to AAA. It should be noted that this was tested, in 2019, in the Atlantic League.
In High-A ball, pitchers will now have to step off the rubber to throw a pick to a base. This will affect left-handed pitchers more as many raise the right leg and throw to first. This will now be a balk. Also, the step-off throw to first will have to be one motion. You will not be able to step off, pause, and then throw the base. This should lead to bigger lead-offs, more steal attempts, and a higher ratio of successful stolen bases. This also tested, in 2019, in Atlantic League.
Since 2015 there has been a 20-second pitch clock in AAA and AA. The reduction in time is less than expected, mainly because the clock resets when a pitcher steps off the mount. This year they will try to correct that problem. For all Lower-A leagues, the pitcher only gets two pickoff attempts per plate appearance. After two attempts, if they try another pickoff and the runner is not out, it is called a balk. This is going to change the strategy of holding a runner and will eliminate long plate appearance that consists of more pickoff attempts than pitches.
The Lower-A West league gets a 15-second pitcher clock, 5 seconds less than the pitch clock used in AAA and AA. Timers will be placed in centerfield and well as two behind home plate. This, combined with the two-step off rule, should help reduce the time of games pretty drastically. When AAA and AA started using the 20-second clock in 2015, games were reduced, by an average of about 10 minutes, although game times have increased slightly after the first year. A 15-second clock with limited, improved step-offs, could have a pretty drastic effect on game times.
Southeast Lower A gets ROBO-UMP! I talked about Robo-Umps during PitchCon but I’ll give a summary of the system. Using the Hawk-Eye twin camera doppler system, the ball is measured at is cross the front of the plate. If the ball is in the strike zone, a message is sent to an iPhone that the umpire is wearing. The umpire is wearing a headset connected to the iPhone and after a pitch will hear either, “Ball, Strike, or No Call”. The umpire can override the system if, for example, the ball bounces in front of the plate but is still called a strike. He will also have to override the system if the batter swings. Strike zones will be determined by the size of home plate and the player’s height. If your stance resembles Ricky Henderson, you’ll have to slight disadvantage. This also was tested in 2019 in the Atlantic League.
In the last round of negotiations, the MLB and Umpire’s union reached an agreement that the union would not oppose Robo-Umps. The CBA expires in 2024 and 2020 was a lost year for testing this. Don’t be surprised if Robo-Umps are not pushed to the majors very aggressively.
MLB is showing a willingness to change and there are some interesting ideas are focusing on. It could, however, change the game a bit.
Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire | Design by Quincey Dong (@threerundong on Twitter)