New Bat Rule & New Time Between Pitch Limit

[bluepower]

With the start of this weekend's play, there were a couple of new rules in effect.

Pitchers must now pitch the ball within 20-seconds of receiving it back from the catcher. The third base umpire keeps tabs on that. There were a number of violations of the new rule over the weekend...but no-one was penalized. Are umpires being lenient? Is this a silly, unnecessary rule? I think so. The staredown, the stepping off the rubber and varying time between pitches are all part of pitching strategy...especially with the late inning relievers and closers. I don't like this rule.

The other new rule involved new compositions in the bats which are intended to take some of the bite out of the hit ball to protect the pitcher from injury as the ball sails through the mound. A silly rule? It slows down a little, but really, enough to make a difference? I don't think so! One college player remarked this weekend that he'd just as soon be using wood. On the other side of the argument, we had several homers and balls hitting off the outfield wall in Dallas. And, one of the DBU players had a homer in each of the three games against us! Two grand slams and a solo shot. It will be interesting to keep an eye on what effects these new bats have as the season progresses.

 

[SycamoreinTexas]

20-12 score looks like the bat rule has no effect lol

 

[TJames]

The time between pitch rule is not a new thing....

the MVC was one of several conferences that experimented with it back in the early 1990s...as a matter of fact, we used to have a time clock...like in football....mounted on the outfield wall at Sycamore Field.....

The clock started from the time the pitcher got the ball back from the catcher...and he has so many seconds to make a pitch....I dont remember all the rules....but we had to have a guy in the press box to start and run the clock....it was crazy!!!!....lol....

 

[TJames]

There was also an MVC rule experiment concerning batters....

and continually stepping out of the batters box....if a batter did it once, he would be warned...a second offense would be penalized with an automatic strike.....

we had a couple guys over the years that we used to jokingly call the "human rain delays" for how many times that they would step in and out of the batters box.....readjust the batting gloves...their batting helmet...among other pieces of their uniforms....lol.....

 

[BankShot]

They're all intended to cut the 3+ hr games to a more "spectator-friendly" time limit.
With the "rule" in place and EMPHASIZED in the pre-game plate conference, there's usually no problem. I rang up a "strike" on a batter in Sebastian, FL during the early 90's for stepping out of the box AFTER warning him TWICE. A team on Spring Break from the D.C. area - boy did they cry the rest of the game! LOL

The irony of this in H.S. ball...states (yes, IN is one) still "opt out" of the NFHS rules re:
"speed up," which really does help the flow of a game. Florida has used it for 3+ decades.

Re: the "Coefficient of Restitution" that measures the speed at which a ball comes off the bat, with the advent of science (cryogenics, electronics, polymers) in the construction of bats, and the $$$ lobby influence upon baseball sanctioning bodies, it's an uphill battle. Funny, but the hardcore ballplayers prefer the wooden bat, thus not distorting the NATURE of the game.

For those that think a pitcher needs more than 20 sec to scratch his ass, readjust his nut package, pick his nose, spit on his hand and wipe it on his cap bill, etc...move to Puerto Rico, where games of 5 hrs are common. A few years ago while calling the Cocoa Expo Internationale Tournament involving various teams from Caribbean-based countries, the #1 vocabulary term used by umpires was "andale!"

BTW...while down in Brevard, FL last week, I saw where Cocoa Expo is going thru bankruptcy. If any of you aspiring sports business investors are interested:

http://cocoaexpo.com/