Major League Baseball: Five pace of play change ideas

Oct. 14, 2014; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Detailed view of the pitch clock being tested during an Arizona Fall League game between the Surprise Saguaros against the Salt River Rafters at Salt River Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

There’s a lot of talk about the new rules that Major League Baseball is putting into place in regards to the pace of play. Some players seem to be fine with it while others, for example David Ortiz, are furious about it.

Well, of course ‘Big Papi’ is going to be furious about it. He’s one of the biggest offenders of slowing the pace of play.  While Ortiz says he won’t change his game plan, he might want to re-think that.  Initial reports said that there was going to be a small fine for violators of the rule of $500.  But Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal has indicated that there is more to the rule than just a fine.

In an article written by Sports Illustrated – it says that Rosenthal has noted that the first offense will be just a warning.  The next four offenses will then result in a “progressive fine” as Rosenthal put it on Twitter.  He went on to say on Twitter that players who show a “willful disregard of the rule” by the sixth offense could be suspended – which is something most players tend to avoid – if for no other reason than simple financial motivations.

The real problem I believe isn’t so much how long the game is taking as far as hours and minutes.  The issue is the lack of actual action with the amount of time wasted with meeting at the mound and players stepping out of the box. It makes the casual fan lose interest in the game.

Thanks to the bevy of technology at our fingertips, the casual fan has more distractions than ever before. There really is a lot to fix.  I can think of five simple changes that can be made by Major League Baseball that will increase the pace of play and improve the action of the game.  I’ll also look at how a couple of these changes could affect the Chicago Cubs.

Here are the five fixes I feel need to be made this year in Major League Baseball.

Next: Umpires need to make the call

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.

Next: No one likes meetings

Limit the amount of meetings with the pitcher at the mound

This is a big one for me.  There are not many things more frustrating than when a pitcher and a catcher are not on the same page.  When there is a lack of communication between the two – you then see the catcher running out to talk to the pitcher.

This can happen a dozen times in a game.  There needs to be a timeout limit used across baseball.  There are signs that the manager uses to communicate with the catcher.  That communication always happens while the pitcher and the batter are getting ready for their appearance.

If you were to give each team say three timeouts each to use for their digression, this would cut down significantly on wasted meetings.  I know a lot of teams use it as a stalling tactic to get their pitcher in the bullpen ready.  The pitcher in the pen already has more than enough time to get ready and when they enter the game they get a couple more minutes of television break time to use up.

There is plenty of time to get ready.  The manager and catcher don’t need to tell the new pitcher anymore than he’s already heard. The reliever has already heard everything from the bullpen coach with their large index book of every batter they are going to face and what their tendencies are.

The exception to this would be for an injury to the pitcher which then requires the pitcher from the bullpen to be rushed in.  Those are rare cases and can be dealt with accordingly.

Next: Enough pitchers already

Limit the number of replacements in an inning

With the increase of sabermetrics in baseball, the usage of speciality players has also grown.  This is even more true with pitchers.  Every team carries situation specialists – guys you bring in with two outs, pitchers better versus left-handed hitters  and hitters better at bunting than their teammates.

If there is a special situation in baseball, odds are there is a player on the roster that specializes in it.  This brings me specifically to relief pitchers facing one hitter and then leaving for a new pitcher.

That practice was a specialty of Tony LaRussa and it made the game unbearable to watch – in my opinion. Constantly bringing in one pitcher for one batter and then bringing in another for the next. It wasn’t uncommon to see him go through five relief pitchers in a game.  When this happens, you start to wear down the bullpen.  What happens when the bullpen is taxed? We start to see actual position players come in and pitch an inning – while that is funny to see, it’s not exactly the ideal situation.

The situation pitcher is a smart tactic used – I’m not going to debate that.  Pitchers need to be able to go more than one batter.  This change needs to be made for the well-being of the game – even if it isn’t a popular decision with half of the teams in the league.  This is one that has to be done.  This will also cause some teams maybe to carry less relievers and an extra hitter or two, which again, in my opinion wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Next: Just take your base

Fix the defensive shift 

I’m not against the defensive shift – I’m not completely for it either, but I do like some of what the shift does.  For far too long, some hitters have relied on just their pure power and natural ability to pull the ball.  The actual skill of hitting seems to be lost now.

With the defensive shift in place, those natural pull hitters are being exploited like never before. While some have, others like Ortiz haven’t changed their ways.  The Boston designated hitter – far considered one of the most dangerous hitters in the game – has now been exploited.  Now more than ever he needs to lift the ball out of the park or deep into the outfield.  No more soft line drives past the gap between first and second.

Unlike Ortiz, the Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo has decided to take what the defense has given him and used it to his advantage.  At first, Rizzo would hit into the shift, hoping to either hit it over their head or out of the park. But after a dismal 2013 campaign, the young All-Star made a change.

The young slugger worked on hitting the other way prior to last season.  He also worked on his bunting and slap-hitting.  The whole third base line was wide open – all that had to be done was to get the ball half way down the third base line and it was an easy single.  He did just that – and now defenses have to pick their spots on him and play him more honest.

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is a big supporter of the shift.  I’m sure the Cubs will be using it this year plenty. While I do think it is a good strategy; it does eliminate the chances of singles and getting runners on.  Major League Baseball wants there to be more action and the defensive shift does cut down on the amount of singles being hit.  Baseball could do something different from eliminating the shift completely.

Baseball writer Tom Verducci wrote an article for Sports Illustrated bringing up the idea of creating an “illegal defense” rule.  He came up with the idea of forcing teams to keep two infielders on the first base side might cause the effectiveness of the shift to decrease.  If the shift stops showing it’s worth, it won’t be used nearly as much – probably only in special circumstances.  I like the idea personally and I think it could work very well.

Next: How this affects the Cubs

How some Cubs’ players feel about this and final thoughts

Personally, I don’t want to make any changes – but change is inevitable.  I agree with comments made by the likes of Jason Hammel and Jake Arrieta.  Both were quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times, expressing their displeasure with the potential rule changes.

“I know that they’re trying to speed up the game, but I feel like everybody’s trying to change the game now,” Hammel said. “It’s a great game.  How many times are they going to flip these things and change the rules and bend them here and there?”

Arrieta also showed his frustration with all the talk about the changes being made to the game.

“I understand that they’re trying to get the 16-to-30-year-olds more interested in baseball,” he said.  “I don’t think you completely change the way the game’s been played forever because we can’t get people to put their iPhones down.”

Arrieta is completely right on this.  I echoed his thoughts earlier on in this post with all of the technology at fans’ fingertips. Baseball is a great game. Does it need to change a little with the times? Yeah, probably.

But to overhaul America’s pastime with multiple big changes simultaneously would be a major mistake. That being said, there are fundamental issues that could be addressed with some relatively simple fixes.

Joe Maddon hit the nail on the head with how to fix the need for a defensive shift. In an interview with MLB Network Radio’s Casey Stern and Jim Bowden, Maddon was asked about the strategy that he helped make famous and if there is enough offense in the game. This was his response:

“I just think it needs to be organically done. Meaning when you draft or sign a player and he’s going up through your system, you’re going to see that he’s going to pull the ball.”

You can teach these players how to be multi-dimensional in the Minors, college – and even in their high school playing days. But in this case, the Minors are the place where the most work  will take place and best results will come. Once you get a veteran like the aforementioned Ortiz, who has been around for years – he won’t change.

We’ve all heard -“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” – well the same goes in baseball.  With a lot of these veteran hitters, their swing and approach is as natural to them as breathing.  Break the bad habits in the Minors and you’ll see better hitting, more scoring and less gimmicks being used to stop offensive production.

For the Cubs – we have the best and most creative manager in all of baseball in Joe Maddon.  What ever changes are made, he will find a way to make things work.  He out of any manager will find a way to create new ways of winning.

I think we all love the game of baseball and would be happy with the way it is – but with a new age of fans and leadership – changes will come.  Hopefully what changes happen will be for the best. Please give me your feedback in the comments section.

Next: Could Tommy La Stella start at third for the Cubs??