Quote:
Originally Posted by sterlingice
I'm mostly ok with the opener as they appear to at least thrown an inning or two. If they only throw to 1 or 2 batters, something has gone horribly wrong.
Considering how hard it is to steal bases, I'm wondering about the pickoff idea. I'd need to flesh that idea out further, tho. How do you prevent runners from getting a running start on the way to 2B? I mean, I guess by letting them throw to 2nd? Oh, and throwing the damn ball.
I've harped on #2 for at least a decade. I think this is the single biggest thing that slows down the game. Watching replays of old games from the 70s or 80s - it's the single most noticeable thing. Like maybe a batter or two in the lineup has a little routine but there's not some giant choreographed thing that takes 30s between each pitch. I want to watch baseball, not preening.
#3 is basically the pitcher equivalent of this.
SI
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On #2 it is like everyone is like fricking Mike Hargrove now.
On the pickoff rule my way to implement would be this. The batter cannot leave the base to lead off until the pitcher has the ball and is on the rubber. This would have the added value of speeding up pitchers to prevent a huge leadoff or running start.
So in the framework of a 15 second pitch clock, pitcher gets the ball, clock starts, he can get the sign before getting on the rubber (say that takes 5-6 seconds) then he toes the rubber and pitches, 3-4 seconds, which will still hold the runner close enough that we won't see crazy SB numbers.