Let’s give the people the information of what happened this Sunday when the two groups got together because some concessions were made. On Sunday, the MLB Players Association made a proposal that permitted the league to make three changes: ban the defensive shift, install a pitch clock and have larger bases, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Why MLB, MLBPA want to make bases bigger
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Because you get some pretty gruesome injuries today with smaller bases and this will lead to less injuries due to the basepaths. When the first baseman is stretching, standing at the corner for the throw, we’ve seen a lot of times that, guys are just hustling down and they might step on the first baseman’s ankle right there. They’re going to make it over the angle where it goes down from first to second base.
With these changes, the first baseman is further away from running from the first baseline, I would assume. So they’re probably just going to expand the square a little bit. If that base is a little bit farther off the first baseline, that first baseman has to move up the base a little bit to get an errant throw as well.
It changes the angle and potential for a big collision right there at first base too.
So why the pitch clock?
We’ve been hearing about this for years to try and speed up the game people one way or the other.
A pitch clock forces the pitcher to deliver the ball within a quickened time frame between 14-19 seconds rather than the unlimited time they currently have. It would cut down on the average time of an MLB game from last season, which was a record-setting 3 hours, 10 minutes, and 7 seconds.
Banning the Shift – Is it necessary?
It is your job as a professional hitter to figure out what to do when they shift. Here’s an idea, you could bunt if the whole freaking defense is on between the 1st and 2nd base, bunt it down the first baseline and crawl your way to first base in time.
They looked at division one baseball and for bunts down the third baseline, there’s a batting average of 5.33. But let’s be honest, okay, the bunts are not sexy, we get that.
But here’s the thing, they shifted on Ted Williams, there was a time and he still found a way to hit .406. Do you know what else is not sexy? Striking out all the damn time in the hopes of hitting a home run. Here’s an idea. Go back to basics, learn how to hit the ball in the right spot to put your bullet.
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You ever heard Chipper Jones talk about hitting 100 times, you know, like his thing that he said, he goes when I stood up to the plate, my goal was to hit the ball through the outfield wall, through it, not over it, but through it hard-hit balls.
My philosophy? Simple….hit the ball through the outfield wall, not over it. And do it from foul pole to foul pole. This mindset helped me create backspin to all fields.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) December 7, 2017
