College Baseball Rule Changes

Glory! We are speeding the pace of play and that is awesome from this bureau’s point of view.

There are several rule changes this year, and among our favorites are these:

• No more ‘fake a throw to third base and then throw to first base or fake a throw to first base.” Thank you! It’s a Harry High School move and it never works. If the pitcher does it now, it’s a balk.
• If you are the batter and, in the opinion of the umpire, you get hit by a pitch on purpose – you lean into the pitch or whatever, no matter where the pitch is thrown – it’s a strike. So you have a bruise and another strike on you. Good.
• No more intentional walks. The pitcher CAN throw four intentional balls, but the manager has the option of telling the umpire he wishes to intentionally walk the batter, and the batter must then mosey to first base.
• The days of the shortstop and catcher going out to talk to the pitcher are, for the most part, over. The defense is allowed a total of six visits per game. That is visits to the mound or visits to anywhere else. (Most often it’s to the mound; you seldom see the team gathered around the center fielder.) If the catcher gets crossed up and the umpire feels there is a safety issue, the catcher may visit the mound to get signals straight, but the umpire must tag along.

These are fine rules and DesignatedWriters is proud they are now in place. The season starts in less than a month for college players. Spring training is three weeks away for the pros.

So basically there are two seasons: winter, and baseball. Thank goodness one is almost over and one is about to begin.

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