New rule changes coming for this season of Spring Training

Pitchers and catchers report to Arizona this week for Spring Training. New rule changes are coming this season that will affect the game. We spoke to Bill Hill, former baseball writer and Professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

“Two of the rule changes are just huge changes that are basically suppose to fix the game,” said Hill.

According to Hill, these new rules are aimed to improve fans’ experiences. However, the players were not as excited at how the new rules were enacted.

“They’ve got big adjustment coming, so they’re going to have to figure it out,” said Hill.

The new rules include a 15 second time limit between pitches when the bases are empty and a 20 second time limit when a runner is on base. If a pitcher over stays the time limit, the play is counted as a ball and the batter goes to first. According to Hill, when the pitcher’s foot moves, the clock stops. Hill says he thinks there will be clock in center field to keep everyone informed of the time.

This rule change also has implications for batters.

“They can only step out once, now, to fit their batting gloves,” said Hill. “They have to be in the box eight seconds before the clock expires.”

The new rule changes also create a 30 second time limit between at bats. If the batter is not in place by the end of the time limit, there is an automatic strike.

“Once they play ins, they hit a single to right field, they throw the ball into the in field, at that point the clock will begin,” said Hill.