The MLB officially released the new rules that will begin this 2023 season. All of these rules were created with the influence of both the players and fans, which is a nice change considering Commissioner Rob Manfred has a tendency to make everything he touches worse. The fans wanted a faster game with more action, and that’s exactly what the MLB game us. But the question is, will any of these changes have an impact on the Chicago White Sox going forward? Let’s take a look.
Shift Ban
The shift has been a topic of high controversy for a while, mostly coming from left-handed hitters. We’ve seen a huge increase in infield shifts within the past decade, hovering just under a 30% increase. The new rule states that all four infielders are to be in the infield dirt, and two players must be on each side of 2nd base. It was very common, especially on lefties, to have someone near the 2nd base area and the other 3 infielders to be covering the gaps on the right side. However, we are set to never see these crazy-looking shifts any longer.
The Sox were ranked the 7th highest shifting team in the league last year, shifting at 38% of plays. That is a substantial number and thinking nearly every 4/10 pitches, the White Sox were in a unique defense position, is shocking. In their defense, LaRussa had a tendency to make some questionable decisions when it came to our positioning and they paid the price for it several times. As for hitting, Benintendi and Sheets are the only left-handed hitters on the 40-man, so we shouldn’t see too much of a change at the plate. The shift ban will be a huge difference-maker this season, and the White Sox are going to have to adjust with everyone else.
Pitch Timer
For the White Sox, this shouldn’t be the end of the world, but none of the White Sox qualified pitchers were below the 15-second rule, on average. Cease had an 18.5 tempo, Clevinger was at 19, Giolito was at 20.7, Hendriks was at 22.2, and Lynn had a 19.4-second tempo. As I said earlier, there were only 20 of the 399 pitchers that averaged a tempo below the new time restriction, so nearly every pitcher will have to adjust accordingly. Nothing sticks out to me as a substantial problem for any of our guys, just a new tweak in the game.
This rule change most likely saw its influence from more fans than players. The average game time was 3 hours and 3 minutes in 2022, which is a long time. The rule is that all pitches must be thrown under 15 seconds apart if there are no runners on base, and 20 if there are runners. The timing is based on the pitcher's initial motion as well, so as long as he is in motion every 15 seconds, he’s good. If the pitch does not come out in time, it will be ruled as a ball. This will also have an effect on hitters, if a hitter is delaying the game with time outside of the box, it will be ruled a strike. Of the 399 qualified pitchers alone, only 20 of them averaged a tempo of fewer than 15 seconds, which is crazy to think about.
Less Pickoff Attempts
This change is one that no one was begging for, but it might be a blessing to be in effect. Essentially, pitchers have three step-offs attempts (pick-off or routine step-off), and after that, it’s ruled a balk. If the pitcher gets an out or the runner advances on the step-off, that doesn’t count as one of the three. There are different reasons why they created this rule, whether it’s to increase action and make runners more likely to steal or to save time just like the pitch clock.
The White Sox weren’t a good pickoff team last year, we all know that. The White Sox also didn’t attempt an astronomical number of pickoffs in the first place except for Cease, who was 5th in the AL with 86 pickoff attempts last season. The only concern I might have is that Yasmani Grandal could really struggle with an increase in steals. At just 24% of runners being thrown out, if this rule change works as it’s supposed to and guys are stealing a handful of times a game, we could see a huge problem with runners moving into scoring position at no cost. Combining this with the pitch clock, we’re bound to have a crazy difference from last season to this season in terms of average game time.
Larger Bases
The MLB decided to increase the bases from 15 inches to 18, in hopes that there will be both fewer injuries and more steal attempts with the bigger bag to slide into. There was a huge change in A and AA in terms of steal attempts when the base size increased, so they brought it up to the MLB to try it out with the pros. The injury reduction concept is the primary reason I like this change, for obvious reasons.
The Sox may finally be able to use that speed they have in the lineup with this change, as long as the aggression rises as well. While this will give all teams an expected boost in steal attempts, last season the White Sox were in the bottom six for stolen bases, which is an issue. Combining this rule with the limited pickoff attempts, runners should have a huge advantage when it comes to stolen bases, and the Sox have guys who can run that just weren’t utilized or didn’t have the opportunities that they’ll have this year.
I can’t think of one complaint when it comes to these updated rule changes. The only other rule I didn’t dive into was an updated rule on position players pitching, and that just means Yermin can’t smoke a 3-0 pitch going 47 mph. I think every single one can increase both the fans and players’ morale, and make the game more exciting and quicker. Besides the shift ban, none of the newly implemented rules should prevent the Sox from doing anything they are used to, which is a good sign.
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