2019Dad posted:PGStaff posted:The rules for this tournament were set by MLB. At first I thought it was a bit over board, and so did the coaches and players. However by the second round things started to get very interesting. Hitters had to be aggressive strike outs actually went way down and scores were similar to past tournaments with top teams. Most of the coaches and players prefer the normal rules, but said there were some benefits to the new rules.
The number one thing that stood out was the lower pitch counts. One pitcher threw 7+ innings with around 50 pitches. The coach of the team that won the championship said he thought his team's hitters were not aggressive enough this year, but they were forced to get aggressive with the rules and they really started to hit. It is similar to having a two strike approach in one way, but actually different because until you had two strikes you could swing for the fence and miss, you just couldn't take a strike.
The purpose id not necessarily to shorten the length of the games, though that does happen. The goal is to pack more action into that time. It certainly did do that. The one rule most didn't like was the no steal rule. The stolen base is an action play so most thought it should be added. Guess the thought was to eliminate an overly amount of pick off moves.
I'm not sure if the new rules would be received as well during the spring or summer, but hoilding pitch counts down during the off season does make sense.
I think all the teams enjoyed playing and I think MLB got a lot of feedback both good and bad. Everyone knew it was an experiment of sorts. The umpiring was outstanding.
Thanks PGStaff. So strikeouts went down -- as I would expect with hitters being compelled to swing at strikes -- and scoring was similar. Very interesting.
Compelling a batter to swing because he walks to the plate with a two strike count is not a good thing for the batter unless you are using a two strike approach, like actually walking to the plate with two strikes. Otherwise, you gey kids lazily swinging through strikes just to get to the next pitch. A fast ball away might be hittable but is not the preferred pitch to hit.
For showcase purposes, I could see many scenarios that could work, including the one strike approach.