Three batter rule?

[DanielVogelbach]

I remember hearing about this and scoffing in disgust. Now, that it's actually here I'm forced to think about it again.

With 2 outs, are we in the same situation? You bring in the lefty to face the lefty even with 2 hard hitting right-handers coming up? Or do you just go with best pitcher available regardless of lefty or righty? Do you even have the lefty specialist in the pen anymore?

I think ultimately this rule will have some impact. There's no way that pitching can be as effective if you're not able to pitch to 1 or 2 batters. So, this should increase offense while also reducing the percentage of time that pitchers are walking in from the pen or on the mound throwing warm up pitches. Those might be looked at as benefits, but I think it comes at a major cost which is making the game more complicated. Also, what about the fake injury? Elbow feels a little funny, need to take out for precautionary examination... turns out it's fine and he can pitch tomorrow!

[rockycola]

I think ot should be 3 batters OR until the inning is over to eliminate the time spent switching pitchers mid inning.

I would have been happy with your solution also, but I'm happy enough with the new rule. It will eliminate the 3 pitching changes per inning (most of the time). Hitters will gain an advantage, offense goes up slightly. I like it. Have to put runs on the board to see who wins. We should see a few more runs, and a few less specialty pitchers.

I don't mind the rule change either. More offense is a good thing.

In Scott Servais' case, less opportunity to do bonehead pitching changes.

Next up, if this rule works out, in 2021 a new rule could be that a manager goes out to make a pitching change:
Rule 1 - Manager of the team up to bat must announce whether current batter stays or he is going with a specific pinchhitter before pitching change is made.
Rule 1a - If a switchhitter is batting, batter must announce which way he will bat, L or R.

Keep those little ch-ch-changes coming.

Or...……...more Pat Venditte type pitchers developed

[Juliooooo]

I think ot should be 3 batters OR until the inning is over to eliminate the time spent switching pitchers mid inning.

I believe this is the actual rule.

Thats good imo. You can use a guy for 1 batter, as long as there are 2 outs and he gets the job done, but if he doesn't, then watch out

[DanielVogelbach]

I think ot should be 3 batters OR until the inning is over to eliminate the time spent switching pitchers mid inning.

I believe this is the actual rule.

Thats good imo. You can use a guy for 1 batter, as long as there are 2 outs and he gets the job done, but if he doesn't, then watch out

What about the fake injury? lefty vs. lefty and the guy gets on base... sudden elbow tightness??? They can't force you to throw if you're injured.

[D-train]

I believe this is the actual rule.

Thats good imo. You can use a guy for 1 batter, as long as there are 2 outs and he gets the job done, but if he doesn't, then watch out

What about the fake injury? lefty vs. lefty and the guy gets on base... sudden elbow tightness??? They can't force you to throw if you're injured.

They should make the go on the 7 day IL in that case but not sure what they will do.

[DanielVogelbach]

Here we are thinking this is the end of the lefty specialist. Turns out now we need 10x more lefty specialists, because after you take them out you can't use them again for 7 days!

[Double Mocha Man]

What about the fake injury? lefty vs. lefty and the guy gets on base... sudden elbow tightness??? They can't force you to throw if you're injured.

They should make them go on the 7 day IL in that case but not sure what they will do.

Every time a pitcher goes down the team is charged a time-out. Or a foot fault, or travelling if the pitcher travels from upright position to the ground, or out of bounds/stroke and distance...

[Juliooooo]

I believe this is the actual rule.

Thats good imo. You can use a guy for 1 batter, as long as there are 2 outs and he gets the job done, but if he doesn't, then watch out

What about the fake injury? lefty vs. lefty and the guy gets on base... sudden elbow tightness??? They can't force you to throw if you're injured.

They can force you to go on a 10 day IL if you leave early.

[Lamda]

This is a dumb way to speed-up the game though. As some have said, it takes strategy out of the game all in the name of shorter game times. Baseball is what it is. Its not fast paced, its not sexy, its just a methodical game that some will like and others won't.

It would have been a far better idea to eliminate the 5 min between half inning warmups. Make the pitcher go into the dugout below and throw there to stay loose. When the inning is up give him 3 pitches and give each player 1 throw to 1B. This would cut that time down from 5 mins to 1-2. Make the relievers come in and get 3 pitches and get going - they've thrown in the bullpen enough so no need for them to throw another 10 pitches from the mound before they face a batter. Aside from the 1st inning and any emergency switches - this would save a good 30 mins from each game.