Atlantic League rule changes

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Bob78164
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Atlantic League rule changes

#1 Post by Bob78164 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:39 pm

The Atlantic League is an independent professional baseball league. It will experiment with a couple of rule changes. During the second half of the season, they will move the pitcher's rubber back a foot, to 61 feet, 6 inches, from home plate. I'm not a fan of that change.

The other change, though, I think has real potential. They will only use the designated hitter while the starter is in the game. Once you pull your starter, the designated hitter is gone and the relief pitcher goes into the DH's former slot in the line-up. There should probably be an exception if the starter is pulled due to injury, but I don't know whether they're doing that. --Bob
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#2 Post by Ritterskoop » Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:28 pm

The quotes in the story I read made me CRAZY, when they said they are trying to solve a problem of not enough offense. I can't fathom why more runs scoring will help the other issue, which is games getting longer. A 1-0 game is just obviously SHORTER, and it is much better baseball with great pitching.

The solution to "not enough offense" and to longer games is to teach batters to strive for base hits, and not try to jack the ball over the fence.

That, and for pitchers to throw freaking strikes.

Moving the mound is going to have all kinds of unintended consequences with regard to the third baseman throwing the ball across to first and Lord knows what else.
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#3 Post by silverscreenselect » Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:24 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:28 pm
Moving the mound is going to have all kinds of unintended consequences with regard to the third baseman throwing the ball across to first and Lord knows what else.
Don't pitchers adapt to the distance from mound to plate in terms of how they throw their pitches (i.e. when curve balls and sliders break). One foot may not seem like much of an adjustment, but it would still affect a young pitcher's mechanics, which he would then have to re-learn when he gets to the next level.
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#4 Post by littlebeast13 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:29 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 3:28 pm
The solution to "not enough offense" and to longer games is to teach batters to strive for base hits, and not try to jack the ball over the fence.

You keep saying this, but don't understand that it isn't feasible in today's game. The slap hitters of old played in an era when the average fastball was in the lower 90's. Tony Gwynn incarnate isn't going to be doinking 100 mph fastballs in front of the leftfielder...

The launch angle revolution uses the pitchers' increased velocity against them... and as long as it continues to be analytically the best way to generate offense and runs in the long run, it will continue to be taught and stressed. If MLB wants more singles and less three true outcomes, it's going to have to get a lot more creative and understanding of the "problem" than it seems to be with the silly changes it has and wants to impose. I never thought I'd long for Larry Bud Selig again....

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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#5 Post by silverscreenselect » Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:56 pm

littlebeast13 wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:29 pm
Tony Gwynn incarnate isn't going to be doinking 100 mph fastballs in front of the leftfielder.
You don't have to doink the ball in front of the left fielder. Just get the ball on the ground to the open side of the infield and it's a sure base hit and possibly a double if the runner has decent speed. And a bunt in that situation can accomplish the same thing. If you send nine leadoff men to the plate who try to do that, probably half of them will reach base, which is a lot better percentage than you've got currently.
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#6 Post by littlebeast13 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 3:08 am

silverscreenselect wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:56 pm
littlebeast13 wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:29 pm
Tony Gwynn incarnate isn't going to be doinking 100 mph fastballs in front of the leftfielder.
You don't have to doink the ball in front of the left fielder. Just get the ball on the ground to the open side of the infield and it's a sure base hit and possibly a double if the runner has decent speed. And a bunt in that situation can accomplish the same thing. If you send nine leadoff men to the plate who try to do that, probably half of them will reach base, which is a lot better percentage than you've got currently.
If you send nine leadoff men to the plate, the defense is going to play straight up and now you have a lineup full of guys whose slap hitting isn't going to generate a whole lot of anything in the long run.

Players rarely hit the ball on the ground to the opposite side naturally. That takes willful effort, and if you have your good hitters doing that you're playing right into the other team's hands. If it was really more valuable for players to bunt or intentionally go the opposite way against extreme shifts, don't you think teams would be making their batters do that more often? The front offices are smart and know which approach yields better results. Maybe not the results MLB or traditionalists like Skoop want, but the results that generate better chances to win games....

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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#7 Post by Bob78164 » Fri Apr 16, 2021 3:42 am

littlebeast13 wrote:
Fri Apr 16, 2021 3:08 am
If it was really more valuable for players to bunt or intentionally go the opposite way against extreme shifts, don't you think teams would be making their batters do that more often?
A few years ago, someone (I think on 538) ran the numbers to figure out how often a player needed to get a bunt down in fair territory to make it a worthwhile strategy against an extreme shift. The assumptions seemed reasonable (how often a shifted defense would successfully make a play on a fair bunt) and the numbers seemed pretty achievable.

Getting player buy-in, on the other hand, may not be. It's gotta be really hard to get a player to sacrifice power numbers (and the big paychecks that go with them) to drop a bunch of bunt singles onto the empty side of the infield.

This discussion reminds me of a play I saw on TV when I was a kid. The third baseman charged a little too early. Larry Bowa was the batter. He bunted the ball over the third baseman's head. It rolled into left field for a stand-up double. --Bob
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#8 Post by Ritterskoop » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:21 am

littlebeast13 wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:29 pm


The launch angle revolution uses the pitchers' increased velocity against them...

lb13
That makes sense, and makes me resent the batters less. We were taught the same thing in tennis, to use the server's speed against them. That first return is your best chance to get them on the move.
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#9 Post by silverscreenselect » Wed May 19, 2021 10:18 pm

I thought I would bump this up to note what's been happening this season.

Tonight, Corey Kluber of the New York Yankees threw the sixth no-hitter of the season against the Texas Rangers. That figure doesn't include the seven-inning no-hitter that Madison Bumgarner threw which is not considered official under MLB scoring rules. That followed one night after Detroit's Spencer Turnbull threw the fifth no-hitter of the season against the Seattle Mariners. It was the second time this season for both the Rangers and Mariners to have been no-hit, and after the Mariners game, their team batting average dropped to .199.

The record for most no-hitters in a season in the modern (post-1900) era is seven, which has been done three times. Most teams have now played a little over 40 games, or one-quarter of their schedules. The record for lowest batting average in a season is .237 in 1968, before the designated hitter rule. Coming into today, the average was .236. There are only seven teams hitting above .250.

If hitting instructors don't teach the batters the fundamentals from the beginning of their careers, this trend will continue. If players don't learn how to bunt, this trend will continue. If teams keep sitting back and waiting for rallies that consist of two walks and a three-run home run, this trend will continue. Banning shifts isn't the answer. Good hitters can beat shifts if they try, and with a league batting average of .237, you only have to beat the shift one time in four to be ahead of the game. What next, hitters getting to demand either high or low pitches as they did in the 1800s for a while?
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#10 Post by silverscreenselect » Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:41 pm

MLB announced today that it is cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances. Effective this Monday, any pitcher found to use a foreign substance on a ball will be ejected from the game and suspended for 10 games. Umpires will check each starting pitcher at least once a game, and relievers will also be checked periodically. Rosin, as in the traditional rosin bag, is allowed, but mixing it with other substances like sunscreen will be prohibited.

To make the penalties even more severe, teams will not be allowed to replace a suspended pitcher on the major league roster, so they will have to play one man short during the suspension. Further violations by a player will get increasingly severe penalties.
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#11 Post by Bob78164 » Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:42 pm

silverscreenselect wrote:
Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:41 pm
MLB announced today that it is cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances. Effective this Monday, any pitcher found to use a foreign substance on a ball will be ejected from the game and suspended for 10 games. Umpires will check each starting pitcher at least once a game, and relievers will also be checked periodically. Rosin, as in the traditional rosin bag, is allowed, but mixing it with other substances like sunscreen will be prohibited.

To make the penalties even more severe, teams will not be allowed to replace a suspended pitcher on the major league roster, so they will have to play one man short during the suspension. Further violations by a player will get increasingly severe penalties.
My understanding is that the ten-game suspension would be with pay. —Bob
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#12 Post by kroxquo » Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:51 am

silverscreenselect wrote:
Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:41 pm
MLB announced today that it is cracking down on pitchers using foreign substances. Effective this Monday, any pitcher found to use a foreign substance on a ball will be ejected from the game and suspended for 10 games. Umpires will check each starting pitcher at least once a game, and relievers will also be checked periodically. Rosin, as in the traditional rosin bag, is allowed, but mixing it with other substances like sunscreen will be prohibited.

To make the penalties even more severe, teams will not be allowed to replace a suspended pitcher on the major league roster, so they will have to play one man short during the suspension. Further violations by a player will get increasingly severe penalties.
Gaylord Perry must be laughing his ass off.
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Re: Atlantic League rule changes

#13 Post by silverscreenselect » Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:51 pm

Seattle Mariners pitcher Hector Santiago became the first player to be caught for violation of the new foreign substance rule. He's been suspended for 10 games. He pitched in the Seattle game against the White Sox Sunday, and when he was replaced in the fifth inning, the umpires checked him. They detected the foreign substance on his glove and ejected him. The glove was confiscated and sent to New York, but the umpire's decision in this matter is final. Santiago has appealed his suspension and will be eligible to play until it is decided.
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