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Atlantic League Rule Change Experiments (DH, Mound)


Michael

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Per Jayson Stark / The Athletic:

 

The Atlantic League is going to experiment with two rule changes with one taking place in August.

One involves the DH, the other is the mound distance.

DH - changing to a "double hook" situation - starting pitcher leaves, so does the DH.

Mound - moving back a foot in August. 61'-6".

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If this change happens in MLB, baseball fields all around the WORLD will need to make this change too, presumably? From high school to rec leagues, pitchers all over the world from like 14 years old through adulthood pitch from 60 feet, 6 inches. I don't think it's a HUGE deal to make the change at the big league level, but the trickle down effect should be interesting. 

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2 hours ago, SilverBullet said:

What would be the purpose of the double hook? I don't get how that makes the game any better? 

 

I don't understand that either.  They claim it increases the value of keeping the starting pitcher in.  But doesn't the DH on its own do that anyway?  No taking the cruising starter out in the 5th because you need to pinch hit to score with runners on 2nd/3rd.

But then the opposite later?

 

So they want fewer pitching changes, but this move only maintains the number of pitching changes?

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32 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

What's the obvious solution?

leave baseball alone, in general. But the obvious DH solution is to have it in both leagues. The obvious mound solution is to leave it alone. This was more about some of the other things though, like shift rules, runner on second in extra innings, and so on. 

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20 minutes ago, Das Texan said:

I actually dont mind the idea of trying out the double hook.

The mound rule is moronic.

 

I've also evolved on this the rules MUST NEVER change idea as well.  

Everything evolves overtime, or you get swept away and become a footnote in history. 

Great points. I think it's easy to forget our parents and grandparents watched MLB lower the mound, make a foul bunt a K, and outlaw the spitball -- RADICAL changes to the game at the time.

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On 4/14/2021 at 2:39 PM, SongInTheAir said:

Double hook is interesting, but the players union won't go for it because it makes the DH (MLB's currently highest paid position on average) a MUCH less useful position. 

I'm interested in the double hook idea (but I need to know more about it).  I have absolutely no interest in moving the mound (or any other changes they've thrown out, outside of the double hook)

 

I'm convinced that they are throwing out ridiculous change ideas as bargaining chips on the new CBA.  They no they're never going to land, and they have no intention of it - they just have to give the players union a few "wins" when they shoot those ideas down.

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3 hours ago, SilverBullet said:

I'm now more interested in the double hook idea because Theo Epstein explains it as this rule allows you to have a hitter for the starting pitcher but keeps the NL style of still having to manage your bench in key situations later in the game. This sounds like it's worth a shot. 

This idea when it was presented actually intrigued me a lot as a way to say fuck you to the Rays and their gimmicky opener which I fucking loathe and a way to incorporate the DH more into the game.  

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Don’t mind the double hook rule. It might favor the teams who have a better back-end rotation but not to drastically.

The mound idea, I’m not fan, here’s why. Has strike outs increased based on the sacrifice of hitting more HRs, or has the strike outs increased because pitchers are more dominant?  A pitcher shouldn’t be punished because a hitter is trying to swing for the fences. Who would it favor more, the pitcher or the hitter that went 1-4 with 3ks and a HR. 

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Yes I am almost fully convinced strike outs are up due in large to the idea that home runs are more 'effective' and the whole launch angle and advanced analytics placing those things over simply making contact and hitting for high average.

Since so many stat heads literally DO NOT GIVE A FUCK about something like batting average in this day and age.

You could have the pitchers mound 100 feet from the plate and that approach wouldnt change in the current state of MLB.

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10 minutes ago, Das Texan said:

Yes I am almost fully convinced strike outs are up due in large to the idea that home runs are more 'effective' and the whole launch angle and advanced analytics placing those things over simply making contact and hitting for high average.

Since so many stat heads literally DO NOT GIVE A FUCK about something like batting average in this day and age.

You could have the pitchers mound 100 feet from the plate and that approach wouldnt change in the current state of MLB.

I think that may be part of it, but my guess is the velocity explosion and the breaking ball revolution has a lot more to do with it. Take for instance Rich Hill. When he came up many years ago, 91 mph was an average fastball and it was unheard of to use a breaking pitch as your primary pitch.

Now the league is averaging 93.8 mph with a large minority of players who throw a 91 mph changeup, and Rich Hill himself is a poster child for a whole subsection of pitchers who use their fastball as a secondary pitch. Plus improving defenses and shifting have made seeing-eye singles much harder to come by.

I think it's a reasonable gambit to trade a little bit of whiff for pop, especially if there may be only one pitch in any given at bat where you have a reasonable chance to put the ball in play. Better to put it in play with authority than weakly ground out to second.

That said, I think it's worth entertaining ideas that will shift this trend another way, but moving the mound shouldn't be one of them.

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Guys, I dont know if this has been discussed before here so I didn't want to make a thread on it. What happens if a pitcher is having a perfect game and goes to extras? 🤔🤔🤔 How are you going to throw a Perfect Game having a runner on base for the 10th?????? 🤯

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