With the approval of the Tournament Committee and the Tournament Rules Committee, MLB announced a series of experimental tournament rules that will be used in minor league games in the 2022 season.
The rules are linked to fan preferences and are designed to increase the pace of the game, make the game more watchable, and reduce injuries to players.
Some of these rules have already been tested on a small scale for the 2021 season, and this year the following will be fully implemented in the minor leagues:
Pitch Timer
When the batter is ready to strike, the pitcher needs to complete the pitch within the specified time, and when there is a runner on the base, the pitcher will have a longer time to complete the pitch when there is a possibility of pulling and other operations, but the length of time is also limited.
This rule is used in the 2021 Low-A League's Western Division, where pitchers must complete the pitch within 15 seconds when there is no one on base, and 17 seconds when there are people on base. The move reduced the average length of the game by 20 minutes, a rule that will also be widely used in the new season.
Pitcher throws 3 balls, using a timer time limit (35.269 seconds) versus not using a timer limit (51.285 seconds).
Larger bales
Under the new rules, the first, second and third bases will be increased from 15 square inches to 18 square inches.
In the 2021 season, the 3A League used an increased base pack, which reduced the injury of the player to a certain extent, and the increase in the area of the base pack led to a reduction in the distance between the bases, which increased the success rate of the stolen bases and the watchability of the game.
Shift ban
In the 2A, 3A and Low-A leagues this season, the defender must have at least four players in the infield and at least two infielders on either side of second base.
This change is to better demonstrate the athleticism of the infield defender, but also to make the deployment less affected by the attack, which can promote the performance of the hitter to be better.
Automated Ball-Strike
As the name suggests, electronic hawkeyes are used to determine good or bad balls on a baseball field and other verdicts. In 2019, the electronic judgment system was already in operation in the Pacific Alliance (Independence Alliance), while last year it was implemented in the Low-A and Arizona Fall Alliance. In the new season, this technology will be tested in stages in the minor leagues, compared with the manual referee ruling on the ball belt.
MLB has tested electronic judgment systems in the AFL
This year, in the AAA West Division, manual referees will award good balls by May 15, followed by electronic good ball belts, while in the 3A Eastern Division, all charlotte home games will be judged good or bad by electronic good ball belts.
Similarly, in the Low-A Southeast Division, the Challenge system will be tried in certain matches, where pitchers, receivers and batters all have the right to appeal against a human referee,3 chances of losing the challenge per team.
Raúl Iba ez, MLB's senior vice president of field operations, said: "We want these rule changes to have a positive result, and in recent years we have considered a lot of baseball fans' discussions about experimental rules and want to explore more possibilities. Therefore, the testing of all the experimental rules of the small league will provide us with more valuable feedback and data that can be included in the consideration of the big league rule change. ”
Team tests electronic sentencing system (Video source: Minor League team Blue Crab Social Media)
Theo Epstein, MLB Consultan regarding on-field matters, said: "This series of experimental rules is a declaration that we want to improve, and through feedback from players, staff, referees and fans, as well as the impact on last year's game, the experiment was completed." We're excited to be able to put those rules in a minor league game to make sure we can make this game even more exciting." ”
Theo Epstein
What do you think of these new attempts? Do you have any good ideas and new ideas about MLB rules? Come and share it with you in the comments section!