Coinciding with the start of Spring Training this week, members of the league’s baseball operations department visited Salt River Fields for a demonstration of the new MLB rules. The learning session also included a comparison of the old base size to the newer, larger bases that are being put into play.
Prior to implementing the new rules during Spring Training games this year and the forthcoming regular season, MLB tested changes at the Minor League level over multiple years.
MLB anticipates the pitch timer, bigger bases and restrictions on defensive shifts will improve pace of play and increase fan interest and excitement. New rules taking effect in 2023 also include an automatic runner for extra innings becoming permanent, and changes to when a position player can pitch.
Increasing the size of bases led to more stolen base attempts in the Minors, and requiring teams to have two infielders on both sides of second base should improve action on balls put into play.
While bigger bases are also expected to help improve player safety, Freddie Freeman views them as a potential opportunity to run more in his second season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Spring Training is going to be a little different,” Freeman recently said. “I don’t know exactly how the shifts work. Can the shortstop literally be on second base or is there an imaginary line now? I think it’s just getting a feel for it. The bases, I’m more excited about.
“Every year I have a personal goal to reset my career high in stolen bases, and I might have an extra chance now. I tell Clayton (Kershaw), I know the times that I need to be able to make it. I’m not fast, I just try to pick my spots. Bigger bases, the shift, it’s going to be different.
“Change happens every day in life, and baseball is no different. It’s just a game of adjustments and we’re going to adjust to it as we go along.”
Kershaw not concerned with new MLB rules
Clayton Kershaw joked there were so many new MLB rules being enforced that he wasn’t knowledgeable of all the changes, with the exception of a “shot clock.”
“I’m assuming somebody will tell me if I don’t go fast enough,” Kershaw added. “And if I don’t go fast enough, I’ll have to work on it. But as far as I know, I think I’m fast enough. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
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