No more 4 pitch intentional walk

[Big Hurtin]

Going on record, I'm not a fan of this change.

 

[turnin' two]

Going on record, I'm not a fan of this change.

 

 

Me either. This is stupid. Especially in the light of "pace of play". How many IBBs are there? Every other game it takes 1 minute? Yeah, that is gonna get casual fans to watch more. Please. Just completely silly in my opinion.

[Jose Abreu]

I don't like this, but for a different reason.

 

There are very rare cases where a pitcher is attempting to intentionally walk a batter, but instead throws a wild pitch, or the hitter swings, or somebody (ex: Miguel Cabrera, 2006) gets an RBI knock off an attempted intentional walk. Sure, these cases happen very rarely, but they impact the games greatly when they do happen; eliminating the formality of throwing the four balls prevents them from ever happening, which, in my opinion, is wrong.

[chitownsportsfan]

I don't like this, but for a different reason.

 

There are very rare cases where a pitcher is attempting to intentionally walk a batter, but instead throws a wild pitch, or the hitter swings, or somebody (ex: Miguel Cabrera, 2006) gets an RBI knock off an attempted intentional walk. Sure, these cases happen very rarely, but they impact the games greatly when they do happen; eliminating the formality of throwing the four balls prevents them from ever happening, which, in my opinion, is wrong.

 

it's a stupid change. Has no real benefit (ooh saves 30 seconds every other game, big whoop) and as you touched on -- that element is now gone from baseball.

 

Stupid, Manfred sucks.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

While it's not a big deal that it's gone, it's also not a big deal that it was there. It's going to shave about 45 seconds off a few games a week. I don't see why this was done.

[Marky Mark]

I don't like this, but for a different reason.

 

There are very rare cases where a pitcher is attempting to intentionally walk a batter, but instead throws a wild pitch, or the hitter swings, or somebody (ex: Miguel Cabrera, 2006) gets an RBI knock off an attempted intentional walk. Sure, these cases happen very rarely, but they impact the games greatly when they do happen; eliminating the formality of throwing the four balls prevents them from ever happening, which, in my opinion, is wrong.

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

 

[turnin' two]

This move makes no sense. It doesn't accomplish anything. The second base rule is bad, but at least there was a solid reason behind it, same for the home plate rule. This one is stupid and has no solid reason to implement it.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

it's a stupid change. Has no real benefit (ooh saves 30 seconds every other game, big whoop) and as you touched on -- that element is now gone from baseball.

 

Stupid, Manfred sucks.

Not really sure you can blame Manfred. There were a lot better changes proposed like limiting the number of trips a catcher can make to the mound but the MLBPA wouldn't approve anything and Manfred had some harsh words for them. Next year the owners will get what they want changed without the player's association approval.

[OnlyGillis]

Now the game will be over at 10:23 instead of 10:24. I feel much relieved.

[greg775]

Nobody seems to care about the real cause of long games - umpires. In their little wink wink protest of how unfairly they are paid and treated, they won't call the strike zone. Can you imagine if they actually called a pitch just above the belt a strike? The games would speed up noticeably. But they won't do it so that's that.

 

Also, the ridiculous specialization in terms of relief pitching has extended the games and turned the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings into a game of its own and a very boring one at that. When Cleveland starts playing the lefty/righty shenanigans in the sixth or seventh inning you know boredom has set in. I don't know how to cure this problem but it slows games to an unwatchable halt in the final 3-4 innings.

 

And finally, the ridiculous stepping out of the box to re-strap one's batting gloves and to take practice hacks wastes so much time. Hitters were supposed to stay in the box last season but umps won't enforce it so you get the boring stepping out of the box every pitch to re-velcro ones hitting gloves. I love Paul Konerko but he was about the worst fidgeting with his gloves outside the box.

 

Baseball has a serious problem with length of games. I wonder if any kids have any interest in going to games anymore with their attention spans so limited. Games should be two hours 30 minutes max. But the umpires have no interest in making that happen.

[BlackSox13]

Yep, Jose Abreu summed it perfectly. This change is just dumb.

[Quin]

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

 

 

Miggy's hit is the entire reason it should stay.

[Bob Sacamano]

Limit the amount of times a catcher and manager can go out to mound. That would cut out a lot of time.

[Brian]

Lame. Best baseball pitchers in the world can't throw 4 tosses out of the zone? Feels like a little league rule.

[Dick Allen]

People are really complaining they don't get to see 4 balls thrown for an intentional walk because once every few years someone actually hits the ball?

 

In the grand scheme it won't save much time, I think they said 35 seconds on average, but it isn't exactly eliminating a can't be missed situation.

 

This has been the rule in HS and college for years.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Dick Allen

[Bob Sacamano]

People are really complaining they don't get to see 4 balls thrown for an intentional walk because once every few years someone actually hits the ball?

 

In the grand scheme it won't save much time, I think they said 35 seconds on average, but it isn't exactly eliminating a can't be missed situation.

 

This has been the rule in HS and college for years.

 

Yeah I don't mind this. It's a start. Like I said above, limit the amount of times catchers and managers can go to the mound.

[ptatc]

People are really complaining they don't get to see 4 balls thrown for an intentional walk because once every few years someone actually hits the ball?

 

In the grand scheme it won't save much time, I think they said 35 seconds on average, but it isn't exactly eliminating a can't be missed situation.

 

This has been the rule in HS and college for years.

Not to mention it saves 4 throws on a pitchers arm. There's nothing wrong with the change. It doesn't help the time much but it really doesn't hurt the game either by ridding the game of a useless sequence.

[daa84]

i consider myself a baseball purist, and i have no problem with this rule. as most have alluded to - this wont significantly alter the pace of play, but this affects so few plays overall its not a huge deal. Now if they end up moving toward the absurd runner on 2nd to start extra inning thing...

[Dick Allen]

i consider myself a baseball purist, and i have no problem with this rule. as most have alluded to - this wont significantly alter the pace of play, but this affects so few plays overall its not a huge deal. Now if they end up moving toward the absurd runner on 2nd to start extra inning thing...

This exactly. The way the game has evolved, it is going to be a longer game. Bullpens are going to be heavily used, with the steroid era over and with sabermetrics in the mainstream, the typical hitter is going to become a bit more selective, therefore more pitches are going to be thrown. They, like was mentioned before, are going to have to do more, like limit catchers visits, a pitch clock would be nice to eliminate some downtime, but it is more the pace than the length of the game that is the problem. We have all been to 3 hour games that seemed like 6 hours, and 3 hour games that seemed like an hour and a half. Eliminating the lollygagging will make for a better experience for everyone. There is enough downtime in baseball even if it is played quickly.

[ptatc]

This exactly. The way the game has evolved, it is going to be a longer game. Bullpens are going to be heavily used, with the steroid era over and with sabermetrics in the mainstream, the typical hitter is going to become a bit more selective, therefore more pitches are going to be thrown. They, like was mentioned before, are going to have to do more, like limit catchers visits, a pitch clock would be nice to eliminate some downtime, but it is more the pace than the length of the game that is the problem. We have all been to 3 hour games that seemed like 6 hours, and 3 hour games that seemed like an hour and a half. Eliminating the lollygagging will make for a better experience for everyone. There is enough downtime in baseball even if it is played quickly.

Manfred has mention a few times bout pace of play as he calls it. They want more action during the game as opposed to worrying about the actual game time. I agree. The less lollygagging the better. It's not an easy fix though.

[daa84]

Manfred has mention a few times bout pace of play as he calls it. They want more action during the game as opposed to worrying about the actual game time. I agree. The less lollygagging the better. It's not an easy fix though.

there was an interesting article from rosenthall about Manfred and his comments to the players union....

 

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/mlb-com...ents-cba-022117

 

I dont know for sure, but I suspect the vast influx of statistical analysis is fairly significantly slowing down the pace of play. Tons of information to synthesize before making a decision (let alone the death of the slap hitter who puts the ball in play and never works the count). Id be interested to see what the conversation of a mound visit is like today vs what it was like 20 years ago.

[southsider2k5]

Limit the amount of times a catcher and manager can go out to mound. That would cut out a lot of time.

 

Those are the changes that make a difference. Add this to making a pitcher stay on the mound, and a batter stay in the box, and we are in business.

[bmags]

I'm going to go to bat for this change.

 

The reality while a lot of IBBs happen ahead of pitchers, they also happen a lot in interesting innings where there are potential scoring runs.

 

When people are on edge of their seat, they then have to sit there and watch 4 practice pitches for a formality to get to the action. It's boring. It may not shave down time, but I think Manfreds larger goal is to reduce the "downtime" in the game.

 

I've watched Sox games for 30 years, never seen a hit on an IBB attempt. That we all can easily name a few shows how rare they were.

 

But every time I had to sit through an IBB was like waiting for a page to load.

 

Glad it's gone.

[SonofaRoache]

What they should have done is an IBB equals two bases instead of one. If you really are afraid of someone then they deserve to get to second or just pitch to them. If you want to walk them the regular way you can still pitch around them but it wont be as easy as 4 simple toss outs.

Edited February 22, 2017 by SonofaRoache

[Bob Sacamano]

What they should have done is an IBB equals two bases instead of one. If you really are afraid of someone then they deserve to get to second or just pitch to them. If you want to walk them the regular way you can still pitch around them but it wont be as easy as 4 simple toss outs.

 

Most of the time it isn't that the pitcher is afraid to face someone though. It's usually done to set up a double play and get 2 outs.