Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday jointly announced a series of approved rule changes that will be put into effect for the 2017 season.
These changes include the previously approved rule in which managers will signal to the home plate umpire that they are choosing to intentionally walk an opposing hitter rather than having the pitcher throw four balls. That rule had not previously been made official.
Also included within this set of alterations is an attempt to streamline the replay process. Managers will now have a 30-second time limit to decide whether to challenge any given play. Replay officials then will operate with a two-minute “guideline” to make a decision on any reviewed play, with some exceptions. And crew chiefs will be able to initiate a replay review beginning in the eighth inning if a manager has exhausted his challenges for that game.
According to many, the streamlined replay process was a needed change and should at least play a small part in the league’s crusade to speed up games. Too often, players and umpires were effectively frozen on the field, waiting for a given team’s replay coordinator to signal down whether to challenge the play. Many times, no challenge came out of it, but the league lost time that it is trying to get back.
Indians manager Terry Francona earlier this spring advocated for the rule giving managers a time limit to decide whether to challenge a play, essentially saying if that’s not enough time to make a decision, maybe the team should save its replay for a more advantageous time. Since the replay needs to be clear to overturn an initial call, not being able to decide probably isn’t a good sign.
The league and the MLBPA also agreed on a prohibition for fielders to use any sort of markings on the field to signal where to line up defensively.
Two existing rules also were amended. First, pitchers will no longer be able to take a second step toward home plate or reset their pivot foot during their delivery. If a runner is on base, that action will now be called a balk.
Second, base coaches will have to begin a given play behind the line of the coach’s box closest to home plate and the front line that runs along the foul line. Once a ball is put into play, a base coach can leave the box when signaling a runner.
Long road ahead
Michael Martinez homered and later added a two-run single in the Indians’ 7-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in a Cactus League game.
In camp as a nonroster invitee, Martinez is battling Erik Gonzalez, who is already on the 40-man roster, and Ronny Rodriguez for the utility role on the Indians bench.
It was a solid offensive day for Martinez, but the competition for the spot on the team likely will come down to a larger number of factors, not all of which will be under the players’ control. The Indians are still in the early stages of an extended spring camp, and the club often doesn’t put a high value on spring statistics, so there won’t be much stock put into any one performance or one player until the calendar gets closer to April.
“It’s nice to see guys swing the bat, but what’s more important than that is being dependable at a number of positions,” Francona told reporters in Goodyear, Ariz. “We haven’t even really gotten into that. … That’s ultimately what’s going to be more important to that position than somebody getting a hit in February.
“I think that’s where mistakes can be made. You look at a high batting average in the spring and think that guy should be the utility guy or something, but that may not be what the role asks for.”
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ.