MLB Rule Changes: The times they are a-changin’
In 2020 there are several MLB rule changes. Among them, a 3-batter minimum and managers have only 20 seconds to challenge a call. Here’s what we know.
They’ll be playing a different game in 2020. Major League Baseball has announced a series of rules changes to be implemented starting in spring training with ramifications for several aspects of game strategy.
Among the new rules are potentially controversial changes to the way official challenges are handled, to the handling of bullpens, and to September roster sizes.
Your team’s roster this season may also feature a new position designation: two-way player.
The office of Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the changes this week, and although several have been discussed and anticipated for a while, there are surprises.
The biggest surprise may be a rule change that was not implemented. MLB is doing nothing to affect the use of defensive shifts, apparently opting – at least for now – to let players adjust to them (or not) on their own.
MLB also did nothing in the way of advancing the idea of robo-umpires to call balls and strikes, although that concept is viewed as very much on the table for future seasons.
From a standpoint of game strategy, one of the more impactful new rules came as a surprise. It involves a reduction from 30 seconds to 20 seconds in the amount of time a team will be allowed to decide whether it wants to challenge an umpire’s decision.
That rule change figures to intensify the heat on those anonymous guys in the video replay room tasked with advising managers on the odds of winning a challenge. It may also force managers to rely more on their own instincts, or their players’ or coaches’ recommendations, in determining whether to direct umpires to the headsets.
Here’s a look at the other rules changes going into effect this spring.
MLB Rule Changes: The times they are a-changin’
Bullpens
The least surprising and most discussed change in the rules is the so-called “three-batter rule.” Until this season, a pitcher was only required to face one batter. For years, virtually every team has rostered a “loogy,” (left-handed one-out guy) whose sole task was to retire one left-handed hitter.
In 2019, to cite one example, Cleveland left-hander Oliver Perez in 67 games but faced only 2.6 batters per inning, of whom only 45 percent were right-handed. Those right-handers lit Perez up for a .543 slugging average accounting for his 4.40 ERA against them. Yet facing left-handers – which he did 55 percent of the time – Perez accumulated a 3.71 ERA and those lefties managed just a .333 slugging average against him.
This change may or may not mean the end of the “loogy” – at least if one broadens the definition to refer to a short-use specialist. Indeed, since the rule specifically allows pitchers to face fewer than three batters if an inning ends, there may yet be a place for a one-out specialist…assuming he’s a good one.
Otherwise, though, opposing managers will be able to thwart the exclusivity of left-handed specialists (or right-handed specialists, for that matter) simply by adjusting their batting orders to mix left-handed and right-handed hitters.
The Oliver Perezes of this world may find their managers intolerant of risking exposing them to .543 slugging averages, instead of requiring their bullpen guys to be able to retire both left-handers and right-handers.
MLB Rule Changes: The times they are a-changin’
Position players as pitchers
In 2019, literally dozens of position players took the mound, generally to preserve the arms of bullpen pitchers late in games that were judged to be blowouts. Just to cite one example, Baltimore outfielder Stevie Wilkerson made four pitching appearances in 2019, logging a total of five and one-third innings.
Under one of the new rules, that may still happen in 2020, but it will have to occur within a more defined set of circumstances.
With an exception that will be explained later, a new rule will require that players must be designated as either pitchers or position players. A player not designated as a pitcher will only be able to pitch in extra innings or if his team either leads or trails by more than six runs.
Those exceptions may end up rendering the rule toothless, since most managers only call on a position player to pitch in extreme circumstances, such as extra innings or one-sided games. Wilkerson’s pitching line provides a good illustration. His four appearances included three in which his team trailed by double digits when he came in to pitch the eighth or ninth innings or both.
Wilkerson’s other appearance came in a July 25 game vs. the Angels when he pitched a scoreless bottom of the 16th inning and was credited with a save.
MLB Rule Changes: The times they are a-changin’
The two-way player
In deference to two-way players such as the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani and Cincinnati’s Michael Lorenzen, MLB has carved out an exception to its limitations on the use of position players as pitchers. The exception allows teams to designate so-called “two-way players” under certain conditions.
Those players would be allowed to enter the game as pitchers at any point, and can also play the field.
In order to qualify as a two-way player, however, the player must have pitched at least 20 innings the previous season, or he must pitch 20 innings in 2020.
In the case of players such as Ohtani who were prevented by injury from pitching in 2019, the 20-inning requirement can be met by counting 2018 innings on the mound.
The true two-way player remains rare, although a few teams have toyed with it in the face of ever-expanding bullpens taking up as many as 13 roster spots. Ohtani and Lorenzen are believed to be the only two who would qualify in 2020 based on previous performance.
Lorenzen, who is predominantly a pitcher, got 53 plate appearances in 2019, nearly 40 of them as a pinch hitter or outfielder. He also pitched 83 innings.
The impact of the “two-way player” designation may, however, be muted by a companion rule change also going into effect this spring that de-emphasizes roster flexibility.
MLB Rule Changes: The times they are a-changin’
Roster sizes
One of the new MLB rule changes allows teams to carry 26 players in 2020, one more than has been allowable (up until Sept. 1) for decades.
There are stipulations, the chief one being a maximum of 13 designated “pitchers.” Ensuring that each roster contains at least 13 guys capable of playing the field may remove teams’ incentives to encourage two-way players such as Ohtani and Lorenzen. Until the dramatic emphasis on bullpen use, it was common for teams to roster 13 position players and 12 pitchers (or even 14/11), so this change will return to teams the flexibility to carry a fifth outfielder, third catcher, sixth infielder or all of the above if one is a true “swingman.”
Indeed, what may take place is a shift of emphasis away from “two-way players” and toward “infielder-outfielders” such as the Cubs’ Ian Happ, who in 2019 played 15 games in left field, 12 in center, 13 at second, 8 at third, 8 in right and 7 at first.
By simultaneously filling infield and outfield slots, a player such as Happ will give National League teams the flexibility to carry three catchers, five outfielders, six infielders, and 13 pitchers while staying within the 26-player roster limit. Yes, it’s math-defying…it’s also legal.
American League teams will still have to sacrifice somewhere in order to carry a DH. That, or employ a DH who can also play the field in a pinch.
After Sept. 1, teams will be limited to 28 active roster players (and 14 pitchers) rather than 40 as has been the case for decades. On days when doubleheaders are scheduled, teams will still be able – as they have done for several years – to call up an additional player for that date only.
MLB Rule Changes: The times they are a-changin’
The injury list
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After what turned out to be a two-year flirtation with a 10-game injury list, MLB is going partially retro this spring. It is re-implementing the minimum 15-day injury list for pitchers only; position players can still be sidelined for 10 days and then activated.
The tighter restriction for pitchers grows from a sense that some teams were taking advantage of the 10-day provision in order to rest pitchers who were not actually injured while avoiding the roster consequences of resting that pitcher.
The commissioner’s office did not cite any specific data or case studies to support the concern about phantom injuries, but the inference was pretty clear.
In the same vein, pitchers who are optioned to the minor leagues must remain down for 15 days rather than 10. The rationale is the same: to prevent teams from giving pitchers a multi-day rest by claiming a phantom injury while avoiding the consequences to their roster of doing so.
For Ohtani and Lorenzen fans the 15-day rule also applies to designated two-way players.
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So there you have it: MLB rule changes will include a 26-player roster, a three-batter minimum for pitchers, a 15-day injury list for pitchers, and related tweaks. There’s a new game in town: Play it.