Independent League Rule Changes

Scary. If they mess with the 60 feet 6 inches, they'll screw up the heart of the game. Why not just move 1b to 80 feet rather than 90 feet if you're looking to mess up the game? It's ridiculous what they're trying to do to this game.

Ever wonder where the 6 inches came from? It turns out that back around 1905, someone wrote up the rules of baseball, then sent it to the printer. I guess his handwriting wasn’t too clear because where it was supposed to read 60 ft, but the printer saw “ft” as a “6”. So he interpreted it as 6 in. It was never corrected. Even that little bit could make a difference over time.

This could be a developmental disaster. After a lifetime (well, after age 12ish) of throwing from the same distance, suddenly pitchers need to change everything? But then go back at the next level?

Is this a lingering April Fool’s joke?

Many pro leagues have different rules than amateurs do. I don't see why that's such a problem.

Little League kind of did the same thing. Back when I was pitching there, my 11 year old year the mound was 44 feet. That was 1958. The next year they changed it to 46 feet. That was a huge difference. Much harder to throw it by guys. It turns out they did it to protect pitchers from come-backers. Personally I didn’t like it. I’d rather strike them out. Oh well.

Well, I mean... obviously. But many of those rules are insignificant (little leaguers wear full face masks etc). So saying rules vary doesn’t give carte blanche to any variation.

The issue is how much it changes the game. The 3 point line being a step back is not that big a deal. For one thing, you can scout college players’ range. For another, that extra foot won’t potentially cause injury.

I just can’t imagine having spent 15 years working on making my mechanics precise so I can command and control my pitches, then being told to start over. It would be a really big adjustment.

I think you're overselling how different a foot is.

Go throw a ball. Take a 1-foot step back. Throw it again.

Guys train with weighted balls, throwing from different distances, etc. I don't think one foot is going to require people to re-learn to pitch. (And at any rate, that's the point of trying this in the Atlantic League first. If the feedback is that everyone hates it they won't do it.)

What it will change is the muscle memory needed to get a certain break at a specific point in the trajectory. Should be interesting.

I hear what you're saying, but as far as the players in the Atlantic League, I don't think scouts are going to account for the fact they're throwing from a foot farther back.

It will be very interesting to see, if this takes, what the NCAA does.

Generally, pro athletes do adapt - NBA players have a farther 3 point line being the most analogous difference, I think, but there are big differences in the pro and amateur levels for any sport.

EDIT: Typo.

A couple of items regarding moving the mound back that I haven't heard mentioned as of yet.

1. Injury rate of pitchers from batted balls may decrease: In the same way that the hitter will see pitches at ~2% reduced velocity, the pitcher should also see the ball coming back to the mound at ~2.4% reduced velocity (due to 1 foot of distance and reduced pitch speed) which may reduce the rate of injury for pitchers. The reduced rate may be insignificant, but it could also be considerable - we won't know until there's significant data.

2. Will home runs increase or decrease?: On the one hand, the hitter will have a greater amount of time to square up the pitch, which should increase home run rate (think of the home run derby). But on the other hand, the decrease velocity of the pitch at point-of-impact should lead to a ~0.4% reduction in exit velocity (this should decrease home run distance by 1.5-2 feet on average). My guess is that this leads to an overall increase in home runs (not what the game needs imo) with a slight reduction of home-run-rate among players with lesser bat speed.

I'm excited about this. I don't know exactly what will happen, but I hope it will be interesting and lead to a great deal of more interest this year in the Atlantic League. If MLB keeps pushing these rule changes in MiLB it may increase interest in minor league baseball in general.

I don't know how this will work out, but I think there is potential for "adjusting the mound distance" to be a useful lever to pull to make the game the best it can be. I'm not convinced that there is much risk in letting the Atlantic League try this. I don't feel the current distance is sacred in any way.

While I agree, my only concern is how this might impact player development and if some pitchers become substantially worse if implemented at the ML level at some point.

No reason not to change the game to improve it, but I would hate to give a guy a massive contract only to have them completely fall apart because they can't adjust.

It's probably a non-issue and if universal no one team gains any advantage.