Major League Baseball: Five pace of play change ideas

Start calling the high strikes

Every umpire has their own strike zone.  Generally the zone is somewhere from the knee’s to the midsection of the hitter and the depth of the plate (17 inches).  But over the years, the strike zone has been expanding with the lower strikes becoming called more.

According to Hardballtimes.com – the amount of pitches that are being thrown 18 to 24 inches off the ground has steadily gone up since 2008.  What this does is it causes a lot more swings and misses – leaving the bases empty and having no action on the bases to allow for double plays or runs being scored.

With calling a high strike – you are now forcing hitters to hit.  What happens when a hitter swings at a high pitch? More hits.

More hits mean more action, more action means the chances of more runs – which, in turn, leads to more exciting games for the aforementioned casual fans. A high level swing will allow for better extension – with a better extension you will get more power behind the swing. This will then result in a much higher rate of line drives and base hits.

The pace of play only seems slow when you don’t have anything going on.  With the NFL, NBA and NHL, you are seeing constant movement – there is always something happening.  This is what baseball needs.

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