Major League Baseball continues to evolve. According to a report by Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the MLB competition committee will be holding a vote on potential rule changes starting in the 2023 season. Among the key changes expected to pass involve the pitch clock, the size of the bases, and the ban on the use of defensive shifts.
“The introduction of a pitch clock, a ban on the defensive shift and larger bases for the 2023 MLB season are expected to be approved in a vote at noon ET on Friday — a vote in which the league ultimately has the power to push through the changes it wants.”
The said MLB committee consists of 11 members. The majority comes from the commissioner’s office with six from. The Players Association has four representatives, while an umpire rounds out the committee.
The potential introduction of a pitch clock to the MLB would mean that pitchers will have up to 20 seconds to “20 seconds to start their throwing motion with runners on base.” Up to 15 seconds will be allotted to pitchers when the bases are empty. Among the many directives related to the proposed changes in the timing during a pitching situation is that “the catcher must be in the catcher’s box with nine seconds left on the timer,” as shared by The Athletic.
As for the ban on defensive shifts, the idea behind it is simple: to increase the number of balls going into play.
When it comes to the sizes of the bases, at present it is 15 inches on each side of the square. Once the change passes, that size will increase to 18 inches.
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