Starting this yr the new rule
Starting next year, pitchers have just 15 seconds to deliver a pitch with nobody on base and 20 seconds with runners on. … And hitters have to be in the box and “alert to the pitcher” with eight seconds left on the timer. … So if there’s a violation by the pitcher, the umpire can call a ball — even if it’s ball four with the bases loaded. … If there’s a violation by the hitter, the umpire can call a strike — even if it’s strike three, with two outs and the tying run on third base.
WHAT’S CHANGING: What? Baseball is changing the size of the bases? Yeah, it is. After decades of bases that were 15 inches square, the 2023 bases will be 18 inches square. Why do we care? Because second base now will be 4 1/2 inches closer to both first and third base than it used to be. You’ll never notice — but the base-stealers of Planet Baseball will. … And that’s not all they’ll be wired into. In a related development, the pitch-clock rule will also help base-stealers. How? Because the pitcher can stop the clock only twice by stepping off or making a pickoff throw. After that, it’s an automatic balk — unless he throws over a third time and the runner is out. … So imagine the size of the leads after that second pickoff attempt. What’s the over/under? Thirty feet?
WHAT IT MIGHT MEAN: Wouldn’t it be awesome if the stolen base became A Thing again? Well, unless everyone is wrong, that’s about to occur.
