Two Feet and Robotic Umps....

[NattyO's]

Just now, OFFNY said:

o

 

Ironically, these rules being implemented in this league could make such a farce out of their season that it could wind up being a detriment to those whom are strongly advocating abolishing the shift ........ so I am actually rooting for this independent league to have a Harlem Globetrotters-like clown show of a season, to undermine any proposed changes for Majoe League Baseball.

 

o

I agree with you here, but just knowing that they have been thinking about all this worries me.

[OFFNY]

19 hours ago, AceKing said:

 

I'm not sure if I missed a thread on this, but these crazy rules are Actually Happening this year, in the Atlantic League.

Robotic Umps.

No mound visits.

3-batter minimum for pitchers.

Moving the pitching rubber back TWO FEET.

Abolishing the SHIFT.

Bigger Bases.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/mlb-announces-agreement-to-experiment-on-rule-changes-in-independent-atlantic-league.html#comment-1518227

 

This should be fun to watch, whether you are a fan of these crazy rules or not. They are moving the Mound back 2 feet after the All-Star break, so they can see the direct effect of 62’ 6” pitches (this should have a great effect on pitch movement, etc.)

I think I want Robotic Umps ........

 

o

 

1) ) Make the bases closer together (60 feet apart), like in Little League.

2) ) Abolish the change-up, as such a devious pitch causes distress to the batter's concentration.

3) ) Any pitcher who strikes out the side must be immediately removed from the game, due to poor sportsmanship in showing up the opposition.

 

o

[weams]

23 hours ago, panick said:

How will moving the mound back affect pitchers' arms?

The same way everything affects them. They will break of course. 

[Luke-OH]

56 minutes ago, weams said:

The same way everything affects them. They will break of course. 

I don't think it'll contribute to injuries in any increased way, throwing further isn't throwing harder. They will have to learn to throw pitches differently and it'll screw up their command. I think it'll give some guys the yips. 

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

I don't think it'll contribute to injuries in any increased way, throwing further isn't throwing harder. They will have to learn to throw pitches differently and it'll screw up their command. I think it'll give some guys the yips. 

I think it’s going to be very difficult to learn how to throw breaking pitches that break in the right place.

[AceKing]

8 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

I don't think it'll contribute to injuries in any increased way, throwing further isn't throwing harder. They will have to learn to throw pitches differently and it'll screw up their command. I think it'll give some guys the yips. 

 

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think it’s going to be very difficult to learn how to throw breaking pitches that break in the right place.

The way I envision it, braking balls will be breaking MORE as they cross the plate with the additional two feet.  The angles will change completely.  It will be very hard on the catchers, and pitchers with good movement are going to have a field day with the bigger breaks.

[Luke-OH]

6 hours ago, AceKing said:

 

The way I envision it, braking balls will be breaking MORE as they cross the plate with the additional two feet.  The angles will change completely.  It will be very hard on the catchers, and pitchers with good movement are going to have a field day with the bigger breaks.

But imagine trying to command those bigger breaks, plus bigger breaks allow more time for the hitter to pick up the movement. Walks will go up big time.

[DrungoHazewood]

On 3/9/2019 at 1:10 AM, AceKing said:

Not sure if I missed a thread on this, but these crazy rules are Actually Happening this year, in the Atlantic League.

Robotic Umps.

No mound visits.

3 batter minimum.

Moving the pitching rubber back TWO FEET

Abolishing the SHIFT

Bigger Bases

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/mlb-announces-agreement-to-experiment-on-rule-changes-in-independent-atlantic-league.html#comment-1518227

 

This should be fun to watch, whether you are a fan of these crazy rules or not.  They are moving the Mound back 2 feet after the All Star break, so they can see the direct effect of 62’6” pitches.  (Should have a great effect on pitch movement, etc.)

I think I want Robotic Umps...

I applaud MLB's willingness to do a little experimentation.  Even if it's in a fairly low-level independent league that is otherwise completely unaffiliated with MLB.

I question how they're going to implement robotic umps.  Especially in a league where I'm guess most teams don't even have the equipment to show pitch speed on the scoreboard.

I'm a fan of no mound visits.  The three batter minimum is okay, although I'd prefer just having fewer pitchers on the roster. 

Moving the mound back is an interesting thing.  When they moved the pitching distance back about five feet (and created the mound/rubber) in 1893 runs went from 5.1 to 6.5 to 7.4 in two years.  OPS went up about 90 points in '93, then another 80 in '94.  No, I'm not entirely sure why offenses continued to explode in '94 - the major rules change was a year prior.  The only thing they changed in '94 was making foul bunts strikes, which should have decreased offense a little.  What's also interesting is that by 1904 runs were down to under 4/game, about as low as they've ever gone.  So while the mound can have a big effect, at least in the short term, other things can overwhelm that.  In any case I'm very interested to see the impact.

Abolishing the shift is a knee-jerk reaction to people innovating.  Maybe it's throwing a bone to the traditionalists who want to see everything go back to the way things were whenever they were 18, so they'll be more willing to accept the other changes.

Bigger bases... whatever.

[DrungoHazewood]

"Distance from pitching rubber to home plate extended 24 inches, in the second half of the season only; with no change to mound height or shape."

Taking that literally, doesn't that imply that the pitching rubber will be on the back slope of the mound?

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

"Distance from pitching rubber to home plate extended 24 inches, in the second half of the season only; with no change to mound height or shape."

Taking that literally, doesn't that imply that the pitching rubber will be on the back slope of the mound?

I think they mean the whole mound will be moved back two feet.    Otherwise, you’d be right, and that would make no sense.   

By the way, interesting that they’re only doing it for half the season.   That’s a big adjustment for pitchers to make midway through the year.   The results are probably going to be crazy.   

[theocean]

12 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I question how they're going to implement robotic umps.  Especially in a league where I'm guess most teams don't even have the equipment to show pitch speed on the scoreboard.

Replicants, I suppose.

[DrungoHazewood]

19 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think they mean the whole mound will be moved back two feet.    Otherwise, you’d be right, and that would make no sense.   

By the way, interesting that they’re only doing it for half the season.   That’s a big adjustment for pitchers to make midway through the year.   The results are probably going to be crazy.   

I'm very interested to see how this works out.  Why they chose mid-season is a mystery.  Maybe they wanted two independent samples of data with mostly similar players.  At least this way you could try to tease out what the impact is of the other changes, and what's due to the mound.

1892-94 is of little help as a guide, since the change was more than distance.  Because of the peculiarities of the pitching box and where you had to stand, the effective distance only moved back about 3.5 feet, but then there's the mound.  The old box was on flat ground.  My guess is the Atlantic League will see about a run a game more in the second half, going from roughly 4.5 to 5.5.  But it wouldn't surprise me if it was more.  Luke is right, pitchers will struggle with breaking stuff.  The least impact may be to fastball/changeup guys.  I think we'll see strikeouts go down by at least one per nine, walks up by the same, and batting averages go up by 20 points.

I also don't know quite how much this would carry over to MLB.  From watching the Blue Crabs multiple times I'd guess the average fastball in the Atlantic League is in the mid-80s.

[DrungoHazewood]

A little math... a 90 mph fastball out of the pitcher's hand is going about 80 mph when it crosses the plate (see: Google).  That means it loses roughly 1 mph for each six and a half feet.  Add 24" and your 90 mph fastball is crossing the plate at 79.67 mph instead of 80.

If you assume an average velocity of 85 mph a 60'6" pitch takes 0.485 seconds to arrive at home plate.  Add 24" and make it 84.85 mph it takes 0.502 seconds.  So 2nd-half Atlantic League batters will have an additional 15-one-thousands of a second to react to an average fastball.

[Tony-OH]

On 3/9/2019 at 10:25 AM, Beef Supreme said:

People of all ages have all ages have claimed their love of the homerun and the strikeout. They can be exciting, of course. But sometimes what people claim doesn't truly reflect reality. Consider not just a "ball in play" like a popup to the Catcher, but a "ball in play" basehit to the gap with runners on first base and second base. There is a degree of tension during those plays that doesn't exist, or ceases to exist, when the K is recorded or there is dead ball time following the HR. We can hear the excitement in the crowd.The noise in the stands is organic,  as opposed to the blasting sound system creating much of the sound following a K or HR and leading fans into creating more sound than they would have naturally. Watch a high school game -- one where there is no sound system -- and consider the noise of the fans and players themselves as they react to strikeouts and homeruns versus basehits with runners on base. The will vocally react to Ks and HRs, of course, but the loudest reactions are usually in response to the basehits combined with base running.

Consider for a moment: 
What is the most exciting play in the past 10 years of Orioles history?
What play created the loudest fan reaction in OPACY over the past ten years?

Other topic: I think we all would appreciate fewer people complaining about the state of baseball in broadcasts, for damn sure.

Delmond Young's bases clearing double in the Detroit playoff game for both! I've never heard a louder sound outside of a SR-71 takeoff 20 feet off the runway at wheels up!

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

 

"Distance from pitching rubber to home plate extended 24 inches, in the second half of the season only; with no change to mound height or shape."

Taking that literally, doesn't that imply that the pitching rubber will be on the back slope of the mound?

 

o

 

Yes.

And that would be extremely interesting/comical ........ will the rules of the game change so much that some pitchers might start intentionally mangling their pitching hand in an attempt to achieve a wicked, Mordecai Brown-like curveball ???