How new MLB rules impacted spring training

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

With Opening Day upon us, how have the new MLB rules impacted baseball?

It is Opening Day.

But major league baseball will look a little different this season.

MLB is implementing a new series of rules aimed at speeding up the pace of play, and creating more opportunities for offense.

Now that spring training is in the rear-view mirror, we can take a look at how the new rules have impacted both the game, and the pace of play. And if the results from spring training are any indication, not only are the new rules having the desired impact, but they are also creating some perhaps unintended benefits.

Here is how the rules changed baseball, at least during spring training.

And how they might impact the game in the future

Games were indeed faster, and shorter

Perhaps the most controversial set of rules implemented for this season involves the pitch timer, and how quickly batters have to get into the batter’s box and be “alert” for the next pitch. When the bases are empty, the pitcher has 15 seconds to begin their delivery to home plate. When there are runners on, the pitcher has 20 seconds to begin their delivery.

In addition, pitchers are allowed only two “disengagements” — either a step-off from the pitching plate or a pick-off attempt — per plate appearance without penalty.

Gone are the days of a pitcher throwing over to first multiple times before delivering a pitch to home plate.

How has this changed baseball? During spring training, games were shorter. Much shorter. The average time of a game during spring training was just 2 hours and 35 minutes, down 26 from the time of an average spring training game a season ago, and down 28 minutes from the time of an average MLB game last season.

Pitch timer violations dropped throughout spring training

Pitch timer violations were a big point of discussion early in spring training. Especially when a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves ended in a tie, thanks to a batter being called out for a violation with the bases loaded, two outs in the ninth inning, and facing a 3-2 count:

However, as spring training unfolded, both pitchers and hitters alike settled into the new reality, and the violations dropped. According to major league baseball, there were 2.03 violations per game during the first week of spring training, but that number dropped to just 1.48 per game by the end of spring training.

That drop mirrors what baseball saw in the minor leagues a season ago with the same rules. At the start of the MiLB regular season in 2022, 1.73 pitch timer violations were called per game. By the sixth week of the season, that number had dropped to less than one per game.

The restrictions on the shift led to more hits

While the pitch timer has generated the most discussion, another rule that has delivered an immediate impact is the restriction on shifts in the field. Under the new rules, there must be two infielders on each side of second base, on the infield dirt or the infield grass. Infielders can move after the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand and the penalty for a violation is an automatic ball.

However, while players can move after the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand, teams cannot put a player “in motion” to try and defeat the rule. So, if a left-handed batter is up, do not expect to see the shortstop start to sprint towards right field, timing their run to coincide with the pitch coming to home plate. That will be treated as a violation.

What has that meant during spring training?

More hits, particularly on ground balls.

According to major league baseball, the batting average around the league on ground balls during spring training was .249, up from .233 during spring training a year ago. Of particular note is the batting average from hitters during spring training on balls that were “pulled,” in other words ground balls hit toward right field by left-handed hitters, and balls hit toward left field by right-handed hitters. On pulled ground balls during spring training, batters posted a batting average of .206, up from .183 a year ago.

That is an increase of .023 from last spring training.

Some managers have warmed to the new rules regarding the shift.

“I’ve sort of turned the corner on the shift [limits],” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “There’s a part of me that says, from a strategic standpoint, ‘Why should we be told how to play defense?’ But the NBA made changes, right? … It will create what fans want. It’s more defensive plays based on not having a bunch of guys in one spot where a guy hits the ball. So I’m all right with the [restrictions on the shift].”

Bigger bases and fewer pickoff attempts led to more action on the basepaths

Another rule change might have seemed more aesthetic at first, which is the increase in the size of bases. But MLB hoped that bigger bases would not only cut down on injuries, particularly on close plays at first base, but would also lead to more stolen base attempts. Especially when you remember the restrictions on how many times a pitcher can disengage from the pitching plate during an at-bat.

If major league baseball was hoping to see more action on the basepaths thanks to the bigger bases, the data from spring training should be a welcome sign.

During spring training in 2022, there were an average of 1.6 stolen base attempts per game, and baserunners were successful on 71% of those attempts.

This season? Games saw an average of 2.3 stolen base attempts during spring training, and runners were successful on 77% of those attempts.

This has led to some teams rethinking their roster, including Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn.

“Putting aside pace of game — which obviously is going to be huge — I initially thought the shift would have the biggest impact because it’s going to lead to less efficient positioning of the defenders and therefore more balls getting through for hits,” said Hahn about halfway through the exhibition schedule.

“But I’m starting to think it’s the bigger bases. We aren’t really known as a running team, and I think we’re like 13 for 16 this spring. So teams that aren’t necessarily viewed as having that as a big part of their arsenal, it’s going to be available to them on offense.”

Those numbers mirror what MLB saw with the new rules when there were implemented in the minor leagues. Since using this rule in the Minors, “steal attempts per game have increased from 2.23 in 2019, at a 68% success rate, to 2.83 in 2022, at a 77% success rate.”

Fewer injuries?

Perhaps one of the consequences of the new rules?

Fewer injuries, both in ways contemplated, and ways unforeseen.

While baseball anticipated that some of the changes, in particular the bigger bases, might cut down on injuries due to collisions between fielders and baserunners, the quicker pace of play might also reduce injuries in another way.

By cutting down on the wear-and-tear players experience over the course of a 162-game season.

This is something that Mike Hazen, the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, discussed during spring training.

“The thing that doesn’t get talked about enough is the aggregate hours that players are going to be on their feet,” said Hazen this spring. “It’s far fewer hours, and that will improve — I hope — our injury situation and keep our better players on the field longer.”

Some players are wondering if the sped-up pace of play will lengthen careers.

“I like it,” said Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez. “It’s going to add two more years to my career. I’m not going to catch more games [that are] 4 hours and 15 minutes. Now [they’re around] 2 hours, 20 minutes.”

More baseball, more baseball fans, and maybe even more baseball players

One of the concerns when the new rules were implemented was that by speeding up the game — and cutting out almost 30 minutes of game time in the process — the rules would result in less baseball.

If anything, the opposite has happened.

With these rules, stripping away some of the factors that ground games to a halt, fans are now seeing more action. More hits. More stolen base attempts.

More … baseball.

“Going up there when you’re hitting, you’ve just got to get up there and go,” said Manny Machado, the third baseman for the San Diego Padres, who added that the adjustments would be worth it. “It’s going to be cool to see more offense, more first-to-third, more runs are probably going to be scored. But then you’re also going to see some pretty good defense.”

“A lot of people think our job, as an industry, is to win games,” said Kansas City Royals infielder Matt Duffy. “No. Our job is to entertain first. If the product as a whole is not entertaining, people aren’t going to come. When a ground ball is smoked at 110 miles an hour, everybody goes, ‘Oooh!’ as it goes through the infield — and then there’s a guy standing right there that they didn’t see, and it’s just another out. That’s not entertaining.”

“It’s like, sorry, pitchers, but fans want to see base runners, they want to see first-to-third, they want to see triples, they want to see home runs,” added Duffy. “They don’t want to see strikeouts and nobody on base and 350 pitches thrown in a game.”

That sentiment was something we found here at SBNation, with a fan survey finding that the majority of fans approved of the new rules.

In addition to seeing more baseball in the short term, there is a belief that the new rules could lead to more baseball, and specifically more baseball players, in the long term. The hope is that shorter games, with more action, will draw a new generation of fans to the game.

“We think about how we first saw the game, where the players were positioned, how fast or slow they were, and this will be the new normal for a whole generation of kids and fans,” said Detroit Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch. “They will think of clocks and the speed of the game, if this enhances it — and hopefully they can get to a few more games if it’s not past their bedtime anymore.”

“With young kids being able to watch a full nine innings now… That’s one way to bring the younger generation into the game, make sure more kids are going to the ballpark,” said Alex Bregman. “I think there’s a bunch of ways we can make a difference in making a lot of kids love baseball and grow up wanting to be big leaguers.”

As someone who coaches middle school baseball, that might be the most important impact of them all.