Arizona Fall League Rule Change Testing

With the first Arizona Fall League games slated for this evening, WTHB friend Wallee Wright has weighed in with the composition of the various AFL teams, and has also delved deeply into the makeup of the Salt River Rafters, the team for which several Astros prospects will be playing. Today, he outlines the various rule changes which will be tested in the AFL, much as replay challenges were tested in 2013. And he is, as always, highly entertaining in his take on the subject.

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The Arizona Fall League is billed as an opportunity for your young, high-ceiling, prospects to compete with similarly-skilled prospects from every one of the other twenty-nine major league baseball organizations. And to a great extent that billing holds true again this year with MLB.com’s Top-100 prospects number one, four, five, nine, thirteen and sixteen among the twenty-one included on this august list.

But the Arizona Fall League, by virtue of fielding teams comprised of players and staff from all thirty major league teams, has also served as a testing ground for Major League Baseball rules changes. In 2013 MLB used the AFL to test the umpire Play Review process that was subsequently implemented for the 2014 regular season.

This year MLB will use the AFL, and particularly your Salt River Astros – I mean Rafters – to test several rules changes intended to speed up the game, including a 20-second shot – oops, I mean pitch clock. Our Astros always seem to be on the Commish’s bleeding edge of innovation.

Here are the new rules that Major League Baseball has indicated will be in play during what might otherwise have been an enjoyable night of baseball at Salt River Fields:

20-Second Rule (at Salt River Fields Games Only): Modifying Rule 8.04, which required delivery of a pitch within 12 seconds of receipt of the game ball. A clock operated by an independent operator (there are lots of these at every major league baseball game … like official scorers) will be displayed in box dugouts, behind home plate, and in the outfield. The batter must be in the batter’s box and prepared for the pitch the entire 20 seconds or a strike may be called … if no pitch is thrown a ball is called.

Batter’s Box Rule: The batter must keep one foot in the batter’s box at all times, unless driven from the box by one of several exceptions. No penalty was described for violations, but one can expect clever pitchers will now deliver the ball to unprepared batters within the 12-second timeframe previously described by Rule 8.04.

Three “Time Out” Limit: Teams will no longer be able to plan the evening’s post-game entertainment while gathered at the mound … players, coaches and manager visits are limited to three per game, no matter the game’s duration. I’m looking forward to the first time the pitcher calls time-out in mid-inning, drops the ball on the mound, and walks to the dugout while his replacement sprints onto the field of play from the bullpen. Any attempt to call a fourth timeout will be ignored and the offender subject to an undisclosed discipline, perhaps forced to watch an entire season of some hack ex-Dallas ex-sportswriter like Bayless or Blackistone on ESPN.

2:30 Pitching Change Break Clock: The time allowed between pitching changes, beginning when the reliever crosses into the field of play and ending with the first pitch. The reliever best be warmed up prior to hitting the field of play because the first live pitch must be thrown before the time clock expires or a ball shall be called. This spells the end to thunderous walk-on music, dramatic gate openings, and bullpens in the far reaches of a stadium without access to a golf cart … not that any of those things will be missed by this reporter.

No-Pitch Intentional Walks: In a daring move and proving once again that the folks in New York do listen to your input, we will be testing no-pitch intentional walks this fall in Arizona. The manager simply indicates he wishes to walk the batter by showing four fingers to the home plate umpire … I’m assuming they must be presented jointly rather than individually.

2:05 Inning Break Clock: The maximum time between innings, though the batter must be in the box at 1:45 … clearly the league has identified the culprit in slow games as being the batter – just as clearly, batting glove makers will need to improve the clinging properties of their product before the start of the 2015 season. When batters violate the rule, a strike may be called, and when pitchers fail to throw a pitch before the 2:05 is concluded, a ball may be called.

Not to be accused of ignoring the more obvious delay mechanisms of the 2014 season, Major League Baseball has vowed to continue “to study potential modifications to its system of instant replay” with the 17 home games at Salt River Fields featuring the review system currently utilized in all MLB games including “connectivity to MLB’s Replay Operations Center at MLB Advanced Media in New York”. And here I thought MLB simply needed to hire a second reviewer, or to add a second review device.

~ Wallee Wright ~