What I find interesting is the step off rules. Pitchers must disengage the rubber before throwing to a base. Not sure how it will be interpreted. No more LH leg hang? Only 2 step offs or pick offs per plate appearance - does that mean a good runner who doesn't get picked off in 2 attempts can now take a 30 ft lead and can't be picked off by the pitcher? Anyone have the avg # if times a pitcher throws over to first per plate appearance?
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@NewUmpire posted:What I find interesting is the step off rules. Pitchers must disengage the rubber before throwing to a base. Not sure how it will be interpreted. No more LH leg hang? Only 2 step offs or pick offs per plate appearance - does that mean a good runner who doesn't get picked off in 2 attempts can now take a 30 ft lead and can't be picked off by the pitcher? Anyone have the avg # if times a pitcher throws over to first per plate appearance?
RipkenFanSon was talking with me about these changes last night. He wishes they were all given at all levels for the year. Player who moves up or down in levels will have to reorient himself as to what is legal at the specific level. As for average # of throws over to first, I am not sure. Three throws over is typical for him. He recalls one pitcher who threw over 6 times in one hitter's AB. As for your big lead after two throws question.. Son interprets that as you can still throw over on throw #3; but if runner gets back it's a balk.
I see the problems with the rule and not sure I have good suggestion for improvement on it outside of letting it playout to what tweaks are needed to make it work. That being said the concept I think is good, it speeds the game and more importantly puts some action back in the game.
I think the game of MLB is suffering and ultimately will go on decline due to the way the game is played. I am not saying it will die, not saying the world is ending...I am saying that with the shift, deep deep counts, the gyrations on the mound and in the box, the amazing amount of pitching changes etc that I think the game has a problem. I love playoff baseball but lets face it 4 hour games are to long, games with the majority of AB that end in a HR, K or flyball are really that exciting...for the game to continue to grow and prosper I think it needs to be tweaked.
I realize in advance that every person on this site is a hardcore baseball person and many or most will disagree but I am thinking on the business model. No matter what anyone's opinion of baseball is, the business model is the most important thing. Somehow they have to figure out how to put more action into the game at a quicker pace.
Somehow they have to figure out how to put more action into the game at a quicker pace.
I agree. The MLB game is barely watchable if your team is good. It’s unwatchable if they’re not.
I'm just waiting on a couple more guys who are smart enough (and able) to put down a bunt a couple times early in the year against the shift. Guess what....just like magic....the shift on that guy will be gone. It's painful to think that MLB players aren't willing (or able) to just lay down a bunt to third and take the easiest base hit they will ever get when the shift is on.
I think most of the changes seem reasonable. I also like the reduced lefty benefit for pickoffs (yes, I know this is fighting words coming from a righty dad). I do agree that some sort of a time clock or reasonable amount of time between pitches is helpful (and having the batter call time should be limited as well). We always teach that it is the "pitcher's mound", but when somebody tries to overuse it, it ruins the pace of the game.
@Ripken Fan posted:RipkenFanSon was talking with me about these changes last night. He wishes they were all given at all levels for the year. Player who moves up or down in levels will have to reorient himself as to what is legal at the specific level. As for average # of throws over to first, I am not sure. Three throws over is typical for him. He recalls one pitcher who threw over 6 times in one hitter's AB. As for your big lead after two throws question.. Son interprets that as you can still throw over on throw #3; but if runner gets back it's a balk.
Obviously a speedy player would prefer to have the rules be consistent, but I think what MLB and MiLB is doing is exactly right. Different rule changes in different leagues will give them a better idea of what the effect of each change is.
That said, I think most fans want to see more players running the bases, so I'm hopeful that the bigger bases and the rule on lefty moves will help. I hate watching a pitcher throw to first a zillion times as much as the next person, but limiting throws seems like too much of an intrusion into the basic nature of the game.
Band-aides people, just band-aides. Over the last couple years, I find myself watching college baseball more and more than ever before.
@RJM unfortunately I'm a fan of one of those "unwatchable teams". After all, I stopped caring to watch after Bundy stop caring to cover home 
....and the bad thing is I didn't blame him in the moment.
Even watching the Sox in ‘18 often I would have the tv on but not watching. I would look up when I heard crowd noise or the announcer’s voice increase in volume. Now the Sux are unwatchable.
What’s everyone’s rush? By the time you buy tickets for decent seats and modest refreshments a game cost hundreds of dollars for a family to attend. Relax, enjoy it and savor it as it was made. Stop trying to alter it to suit your diminishing attention span. There are plenty of us who love the game the way it’s played.
Couldn't a maximum number of pick off throws be abused by a baserunner by drawing that maximum number of throws by "dancing around" and then he can take a huge lead?
@22and25 posted:What’s everyone’s rush? By the time you buy tickets for decent seats and modest refreshments a game cost hundreds of dollars for a family to attend. Relax, enjoy it and savor it as it was made. Stop trying to alter it to suit your diminishing attention span. There are plenty of us who love the game the way it’s played.
I don’t get bored at the park. But I only go to a game or two a month. The rest are on tv. It’s not about diminishing attention span when games on tv end after 11pm or midnight. It’s not about attention span when watching baseball is as bad as sitting and watching all of Godfather 3 (The Godfather movie that sucks) with commercials.
@RJM posted:I don’t get bored at the park. But I only go to a game or two a month. The rest are on tv. It’s not about diminishing attention span when games on tv end after 11pm or midnight. It’s not about attention span when watching baseball is as bad as sitting and watching all of Godfather 3 (The Godfather movie that sucks) with commercials.
So you want a juicy slow cooked meal when you sit down inside the restaurant but then expect a totally different product rushed to you through the drive through window when you can’t go inside? 😁. I kid, but maybe you just need to follow a better team! I am more of a fan of the game than a specific team, although I have my favorites, so I tend to watch good matchups, particularly pitching matchups, so I can usually find a game I enjoy watching.
@22and25 posted:So you want a juicy slow cooked meal when you sit down inside the restaurant but then expect a totally different product rushed to you through the drive through window when you can’t go inside? 😁. I kid, but maybe you just need to follow a better team! I am more of a fan of the game than a specific team, although I have my favorites, so I tend to watch good matchups, particularly pitching matchups, so I can usually find a game I enjoy watching.
I had trouble watching when the Sox had their greatest season ever and won it all. The MLB game sucks more and more every year. The game is changing... for the worst. It’s why MLB is constantly looking for improvement. No one wants to watch the ball not be put in play. The only strategy left is how hard is the hitter going to swing from his heels.
Everyone not in denial knows MLB is losing its luster. Going to a game is a social event. It’s what keeps the game going. Watching a MLB game on tv is slow death.
I’ve been a diehard fan for over fifty years. The game is losing me. There are a lot of people like me and baseball knows it. They’re not attracting an adequate number of younger fans. My kids played college baseball and softball. They have little interest in watching on tv. They enjoy going to the park once a month and having a few beers. It’s long term death. Baseball is turning into a sedate old man, couch potato game. At the homes for the elderly there are lots of fans. They watch until they fall asleep in the 5th inning.
A lot of people discovered when sports was down last year they didn’t need or miss them.
Fortunately it’s March Madness time. When it’s over the college baseball season will be in crunch time (second half)) of the regular season. I don’t even have to think about MLB until late June after the CWS. By then there’s so much to do outdoors until nine at night.
Yeah, baseball has been on its death bed since 1900 yet here we are..... everyone has an option as to why it’s in trouble and what needs to change, just as they have for 120 years. Some want more action while others think games need to be shorter....none of these arguments are new.
Great article about the generational lamenting of the pending death of baseball.
https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/08...all-is-dying-history
What is changing is the was people consume baseball. My youngest is 14 and there is a healthy population of kids his age that follow mlb online, on social media and streamed on TV.
I passed on 2020 numbers as an aberration.
Tv viewership for Workd Series down 40%
| 16 | FOX | 12.9 | 22 | 22,847,000 | 28. |
| 2017 | FOX | 10.6 | 20 | 18,705,000 | 33. |
| 2018 | FOX | 8.3 | 17 | 14,125,000 | 42. |
| 2019 | FOX | 8.1 | 16 | 13,912,000 | 44 |
(2019) Why baseball attendance is down 7%
https://www.forbes.com/sites/m...n-over-7-since-2015/
Yep, everything is perfect with the game. It’s why MLB is working so hard to maintain the present course.
4 straight years of decline...nothing see here folks move along.
i think the key is not that it is going to die but that it is going to decline, decline leads to loss of revenue which will 100% result in change. You can take that to that bank
Your evidence of the demise of a 120 year old industry is Neilson ratings? Yawn........ ticket sales are mostly stable year over year, despite rising prices people are still attending games. Buying $12 beers and $7 hot dogs and $150 player jerseys.
Total league revenue 2001= $3.5B
Total league revenue 2010= $6.14B
Total league revenue 2019= $10.37B
Total revenue has grown by $500M+ every year since 2015.
As I stated earlier, the way people consume baseball away from the ballpark is changing. Get back to me when revenues start to decline and we can talk.
Attendance is down before 2020. That’s loss of revenue. With World Series ratings in a free fall what do you think happens at the next tv contract negotiations? Fortunately for baseball it’s not for several years. The desire for people to watch MLB baseball on tv has a slow leak that doesn’t appear it will be patched anytime soon.
Are you aware streaming services are dumping regional sports coverage and most viewers don’t care? In 2020 a lot of people discovered they can manage with a lot less tv sports. MLB is aware of it. It’s why they are conducting so many tests at the minor league level.
Maybe you should contact MLB and tell them they have it wrong. Advise them to stay the course. Give me more! Shoot for the four hour game.
I looked at the attendance for the last 20 years before making my post, the slight dip that you note is a few percentage points and is within the same range of variance for other dips going back in time. There is no trend there that I can see. And revenue grew $500M year over year for the years you note, so what loss of revenue are you seeing?
As for the rest, the appetite for watching all things on traditional TV has a slow leak. The traditional way people obtain content is dying. Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS are all scrambling to adjust their business models to keep up with these changes. People want instant access, on any device on demand without regional restrictions. Fundamental changes to the game in order to be more palatable for traditional network and cable TV distribution models in 2021 is tantamount to jockeying for shelf space at the grocery store and refusing to distribute your products through Amazon.
If baseball wants to impact viewership they should focus on distribution, not the product. People still want the same Coca-Cola, they just want Amazon to drop it at their doorstep.
People still want the same Coca-Cola, they just want Amazon to drop it at their doorstep.
Thank you for helping make my point. MLB is not the same game. It’s taking longer for less action. MLB is becoming New Coke. I'm amused you’re fighting so hard against a problem MLB admits to and a majority of fans claims it has. How hard did you fight for the buggy whip?
Has the product changed, or are you just buying the hype from a commissioner who wants to put his stamp on the league? You say the game has gotten longer, too long, and the action has gotten less....so less scoring? The great thing about baseball is the statistics...baseball has always loved number and tracks everything. You can look at trends over 120 years, see the ebb and flow of things with the changes in the ball, the players, etc....Let look at the numbers for the past 50 years around game length and scoring.
1970 Avg runs scored by team 4.34 Avg length of game in minutes 154
1980 Avg runs scored by team 4.29 Avg length of game in minutes 158
1990 Avg runs scored by team 4.26 Avg length of game in minutes 171
2000 Avg runs scored by team 5.14 Avg length of game in minutes 181
2010 Avg runs scored by team 4.38 Avg length of game in minutes 174
2019 Avg runs scored by team 4.83 Avg length of game in minutes 190
So, while there is absolutely not less action the games have gotten longer by 36 minutes on average in the past 50 years, most of increase from 1980 onward. You know what the biggest culprit is? An increase in commercial runtime. From 1980 to 2014, the best data I can find, total commercial runtime that delayed the next pitch increased about 12 minutes. An increase that would account for more than half of the gain in overall game length for the same period. This has absolutely nothing to do with style of play and everything to do with how the games are distributed.
For fun let’s assume this number holds true for the entire period of 1970 to 2019. That would attribute 18 minutes of run time to additional commercials and 18 minutes to style of play. So the net net of 50 years is 18 minutes more of baseball players on the screen and an additional .5 runs per game per team.
Yeah, heck let’s start pulling levers and pushing buttons because this game is sooooo not what baseball used to be. We should all be lining up for Bob Manfred’s “New Coke” because we all know that worked so well😂
Two simple statistics about the MLB game being less interesting. There is less contact. The ball is in play less. How can these two statistics possibly make for more interesting game? You’re fighting against what a majority of baseball experts and fans believe.
Players in every sport will always get bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled. The problem is the way the game is played.
What do the experts think?
David Ortiz: Baseball is @#$& boring due to too many strikeouts
https://bleacherreport.com/art...o-so-many-strikeouts
Major league greats think baseball is in trouble
https://bleacherreport.com/art...baseballs-in-trouble
Sports columnist Mike Sielski: I watch because I have to
https://www.inquirer.com/sport...resume-20200619.html
Strike Three baseball is dead
https://howtheyplay.com/team-s...A-Changing-Landscape
The game’s biggest problem is its age. The average viewer on a local broadcast is over 55, and the average age of the season ticket holder is only slightly younger.
MLB lifers decry the state of the game
I would not mind baseball going to 7 innings and I did like the 7 inning doubleheaders. I'm not super concerned about long games but I don't love the bullpen portion of the game, nothing against a dominant closer but 4 innings of bullpen pitchers is not great to watch.
But pitchers going 7+ is not coming back so why not shorten this whole bullpen thing by making games 7 innings, nobody wants to see middle relievers
.
This is awesome MLB knows they have problem....22/25 thinks they are stupid...carry on.
Hard to put the lipstick on this animal to make it look better... Curious to know if those avg game lengths are just time of play or do they include time on air (e.g. TV timeouts + revenue)? Still those stats mean nothing without knowing MiLB avg game lengths. The problem though is transitioning whatever it is you think you did in MiLB into MLB.
Realistically speaking would any of these adjustments really work in MLB? I cannot imagine limiting pitcher actions would do anything to drastically speed up the game. That papers over only a small percentage of wasted time. The most wasted time is at-bat - throw strikes and swing the freaking bat. Whoever invented working the count ruined the game.
Want to really speed up the game - start it 2 hours before sunset, have no lights, and pay by the inning ;-)... If a HS game can take that long for 7 innings with non-pro players, imagine what the pros could do! I had a JV game take 1h 40m last week - the pitchers threw strikes, the batters swung, and the fielders made the plays.
Why would I prefer to go to an MiLB game - well let's see - cost, attitude, desire, time, atmosphere, entertainment, etc. Those are players that "want" to prove something, they aren't making absurd amounts of money and they don't act like it's all about them.
Having officiated games ate levels from 8U - HS, the biggest time suck I see is 2 areas.
1. Time between innings. At the levels I do - this is on the umpire and not managing the game. I discuss expectations at pre game. When the first pitcher delays getting on the field because the catcher isn't ready or coach doesn't warm up while catcher is preparing - and that pitcher gets 1 warm up throw because they are over 1 minute from the last out - they get the message quickly - it doesn't happen again.
2. The batter stepping out. Again - expectations are discussed at pregame. The first batter gets a warning - and announced to the team. "stay in the box - or a strike will be called".
At youth levels - coaches are calling pitches. Signs every pitch. They are over coaching the game and that eats away at the time. It also retards the development of the kids to understand / learn the game. Players don't think any longer - they just listen to the coaches and do.
At the MLB level - the time between innings is dictated by TV. 2 mins for regional 230 for national broadcasts (I think). In a 9 inning game - that's 18 changes of sides - that's easily 15-20 minutes if they cut it down to 1 minute.
Revenue can be offset by 10 second spots between outs. I don't buy the argument that it can't be done. Soccer broadcasts 45 minutes with no commercials and they make a ton of money at the top levels. The clubs also support a robust minor league development system.
Also at MLB level, every time a ball hits the dirt or is put in play - time is called and a new ball put in play. those are only 5 seconds - but over the course of a game - add up to another 10 mins or so.
Just one person's observation.
If a minor league game drags on at $12 you don’t feel like you’re burning money if you leave early. When I’ve been biking by the park I’ve noticed a lot of families with young kids leave after two hours. The same hot dog is $3 instead of $8.
@NewUmpire posted:Having officiated games ate levels from 8U - HS, the biggest time suck I see is 2 areas.
1. Time between innings. At the levels I do - this is on the umpire and not managing the game. I discuss expectations at pre game. When the first pitcher delays getting on the field because the catcher isn't ready or coach doesn't warm up while catcher is preparing - and that pitcher gets 1 warm up throw because they are over 1 minute from the last out - they get the message quickly - it doesn't happen again.
2. The batter stepping out. Again - expectations are discussed at pregame. The first batter gets a warning - and announced to the team. "stay in the box - or a strike will be called".
At youth levels - coaches are calling pitches. Signs every pitch. They are over coaching the game and that eats away at the time. It also retards the development of the kids to understand / learn the game. Players don't think any longer - they just listen to the coaches and do.
At the MLB level - the time between innings is dictated by TV. 2 mins for regional 230 for national broadcasts (I think). In a 9 inning game - that's 18 changes of sides - that's easily 15-20 minutes if they cut it down to 1 minute.
Revenue can be offset by 10 second spots between outs. I don't buy the argument that it can't be done. Soccer broadcasts 45 minutes with no commercials and they make a ton of money at the top levels. The clubs also support a robust minor league development system.
Also at MLB level, every time a ball hits the dirt or is put in play - time is called and a new ball put in play. those are only 5 seconds - but over the course of a game - add up to another 10 mins or so.
Just one person's observation.
@NewUmpire, I have to respectfully disagree with the 1st one from a coach and former player standpoint. While I do agree that the time between innings should be kept brief, you should always allow a pitcher adequate time to warm up. A good 5 throws to get everything loosened back up between innings should be non-negotiable simply from an injury standpoint. Also to note, I would argue that this actually serves to speed up the game. A lot of big/long innings with crooked numbers usually start with control issues.
My Top 3 Biggest Time Sucks At Any Level Of Baseball:
#1. Pitchers not able to pound the strike zone
#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner
#3. The absence of situational hitting
ps... as a coach, I ain't warming up my pitchers so no need to ask. I have officially gotten to old for that non-sense, as I have painfully learned that most of my pitchers throw faster than my eyes can focus. Maybe 20 years ago....
The average NFL game last 3:12, and includes approximately 11 minutes of live play. Perhaps MLB should allow the runners to be tackled any time they leave a base....I would certainly watch more if Trout was allowed to blindside a runner taking a lead at second base😃
I understand that the game has some problems, but if things are so bad why have franchises appreciated 5x over the last decade? The NBA has similar problems as MLB with declining viewership, yet the franchise values continue to skyrocket as well.
@ReluctantO'sFan posted:#1. Pitchers not able to pound the strike zone
#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner
THESE
NewUmpire, they already do the short spots in baseball. Usually when the catcher calls time and runs out to chat with the pitcher (now, here is where they should cut things off by limiting these). I also agree with the batters stepping out being a bigger time sink than throwing over. Limiting those two would make a big different in my opinion.
Also, anybody watch a College football game recently... Now, those are ridiculously long.... Good for TV, as with DVR, it doesn't take long to catch up with with commercials.... Again, ridiculous.
@ReluctantO'sFan posted:@NewUmpire, I have to respectfully disagree with the 1st one from a coach and former player standpoint. While I do agree that the time between innings should be kept brief, you should always allow a pitcher adequate time to warm up. A good 5 throws to get everything loosened back up between innings should be non-negotiable simply from an injury standpoint. Also to note, I would argue that this actually serves to speed up the game. A lot of big/long innings with crooked numbers usually start with control issues.
My Top 3 Biggest Time Sucks At Any Level Of Baseball:
#1. Pitchers not able to pound the strike zone
#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner
#3. The absence of situational hitting
ps... as a coach, I ain't warming up my pitchers so no need to ask. I have officially gotten to old for that non-sense, as I have painfully learned that most of my pitchers throw faster than my eyes can focus. Maybe 20 years ago....
w/r/t: time to warm up...
For this one, umpires have the rules on their side (6-2-2 exc). A starting or relief pitcher gets not more than 8 completed in 1 minute timed from first throw... Each subsequent inning is not more than 5 throws completed in one minute timed from the 3rd out of the previous inning.
In games where this is followed, things move along, players hustle, etc. In games where this is lax, the game drags. You may not like it, but you wouldn't want the umpire choosing which rules to follow and which to ignore, right? If you're not going to warm the P up that's fine, but please find someone on your bench that can. You certainly find someone to warm-up the next guy in the 'pen, right? It's such a simple thing to do.
w/r/t: "#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner"
What do you mean "high strike" - how high? Belt? or "Halfway between the batter's shoulders and the waistline... in a natural batting stance." Please define your natural stance too since it's hotly debated with crouches and leans factoring into the picture. Are you accepting of this being called *both ways*. My experience is coaches that want this only want it for their pitcher not their batters. Two things happen seem to happen a lot with swings on high strikes - popups or foul balls into my mask - I'll take the former, but the latter sucks.
As for inside corner - I give it, but I also get why it's hard. Batters in HS see a lot of pitches 1-3 balls off the plate called for strikes (it speeds up the game, right?). So I see more batters crowd the plate. If the C sets up inside and the pitch is maybe knee high, but the umpire is totally blocked because the C moved into the slot it's hard to call a strike you cannot see as you're taught to look over the top in this case. Teach your C to give space. If a C asks me, I'll let him know I need the space - he usually gets it.
One thing that drives me nuts - 2 FB's that the batter is not close to catching up, followed by 3 CB's in the dirt, and then something just out of the zone and I'm blamed for being too tight. I get a P cannot just pump FB's, but control is helped by repetition and rhythm - so why disrupt either with 3 waste pitches? You've not only adjusted the batters eyes, but you've also adjusted the umpires eyes - think about it...
My issues with MLB has more to do with the way the game is played than the time it takes to play. I can watch a long, interesting game.. But analytics have shown every hitter should swing for the fences every pitch. Home runs are cool. All the strikeouts aren’t. There isn’t enough action in baseball games anymore. Yesterday, the Sux got five runs on five hits in twenty-nine at bats. All five runs came on homers. Fortunately, I was watching hockey instead.
Most MLB hitters lack the ability to hit behind runners or bunt when it’s needed. Too many hitters would rather ground out to right field than bunt the ball down third with no one to the left of shortstop. Even players who hit forty homers get a different result in six hundred other plate appearances. In most circumstances why not take the free hit leading off an inning?
I realize pitcher’s locate pitches based on the defense. But complete inability to drop a bunt for a free hit is just lack of desire to practice bunting. I have to guess the analytics state don’t waste time bunting.
MLB is concerned about diminishing TV contracts because the average age of TV viewers is older and thus the average age of baseball fans watching games on TV is also older. it's much ado over nothing. younger generations don't watch network tv. dinosaurs following TV revenue because that's where the money was made in the past. dead end thinking. wake up.
MLB should be looking at ways to capture younger audiences. online highlights and social media are the two most obvious paths. once the casual fan sees one home run they've seen them all. there is little to promote visually in a HR other than a distance travelled metric and that doesn't hold anyone's attention very long. younger people want action. and lots of it. not long periods of guys striking out or walking with an occasional HR that looks essentially like every other HR you've ever seen in your life. boring! What MLB should be doing is making HR's rare and making contact easier. in basketball, nobody just watches the ball go thru the rim. it's the pass/the drive/ the athleticism of the players leading up to the shot or dunk that excites fans. world class athletes making amazing plays are exciting. put the ball in play and plays will happen that fans will re-tweet. lower the mound. deaden the ball. move the fences back. whatever it takes to create more contact. then when a rare HR happens, it's noteworthy and gets some legs on highlight video, and at the same time diving plays in the OF and bang-bang plays on the IF are something that excites fans. that's how you capture the attention of current generations. JMHO.
Pitch by pitch sports betting is the answer. Gambling will be legal in almost every state in the next 5 years. Take advantage of it with live in game betting.
@JohnF posted:w/r/t: time to warm up...
For this one, umpires have the rules on their side (6-2-2 exc). A starting or relief pitcher gets not more than 8 completed in 1 minute timed from first throw... Each subsequent inning is not more than 5 throws completed in one minute timed from the 3rd out of the previous inning.
In games where this is followed, things move along, players hustle, etc. In games where this is lax, the game drags. You may not like it, but you wouldn't want the umpire choosing which rules to follow and which to ignore, right? If you're not going to warm the P up that's fine, but please find someone on your bench that can. You certainly find someone to warm-up the next guy in the 'pen, right? It's such a simple thing to do.
w/r/t: "#2. Ump not giving the high strike or the inside corner"
What do you mean "high strike" - how high? Belt? or "Halfway between the batter's shoulders and the waistline... in a natural batting stance." Please define your natural stance too since it's hotly debated with crouches and leans factoring into the picture. Are you accepting of this being called *both ways*. My experience is coaches that want this only want it for their pitcher not their batters. Two things happen seem to happen a lot with swings on high strikes - popups or foul balls into my mask - I'll take the former, but the latter sucks.
As for inside corner - I give it, but I also get why it's hard. Batters in HS see a lot of pitches 1-3 balls off the plate called for strikes (it speeds up the game, right?). So I see more batters crowd the plate. If the C sets up inside and the pitch is maybe knee high, but the umpire is totally blocked because the C moved into the slot it's hard to call a strike you cannot see as you're taught to look over the top in this case. Teach your C to give space. If a C asks me, I'll let him know I need the space - he usually gets it.
One thing that drives me nuts - 2 FB's that the batter is not close to catching up, followed by 3 CB's in the dirt, and then something just out of the zone and I'm blamed for being too tight. I get a P cannot just pump FB's, but control is helped by repetition and rhythm - so why disrupt either with 3 waste pitches? You've not only adjusted the batters eyes, but you've also adjusted the umpires eyes - think about it...
In all attempt to keep this response short and simple:
Warm-up Times = we are literally debating 1 min intervals in games that usually are played under 2hr time limits in the first place, come on man this isn't were the game slows down..... If my catcher was the last out of the previous inning give him a hot second to get his stuff on.... trust me if he is actually lazy he won't be playing for me for long, so you ain't got that to worry about... also to note I make a habit to allow my backup catchers to moonlight in various other positions.... kind of hard to warm up the pitcher when you are in LF.... Lastly I don't keep a deep roster, tricky when kids get hurt/sick/etc.. but I can say that everyone I have gets a decent amount of playing time.
Strike Zone = I'll keep this one simple as well. Call it both ways and just below the chest/nipple line is a strike. The ole letter high fastball is missed over and over again...maybe not by you... but it is missed often enough that I don't expect my pitcher to get that call... Same with the inside FB.... We really only pitch to that spot to get a swing and miss, a pop-up, or a setup pitch to drop in a curveball.... It very rarely ever ends up being a called 3rd strike when taken by a good hitter...
Waste Pitches = Complete waste of time for most pitchers.... only time I kind of understand wasting a pitch is if you cause something to move on a locked-in hitter... other than that you as a pitcher are freely giving away a clear advantage.
@d-mac posted:Pitch by pitch sports betting is the answer. Gambling will be legal in almost every state in the next 5 years. Take advantage of it with live in game betting.
gambling focuses on 'fans' with disposable income, which is generally the older males that they already have as fans. gamblers are not the ones buying team apparel, tickets, eating $7 hotdogs in the stands, or taking their kids to games. it's a niche revenue stream. don't ignore it as a revenue stream, but that's not the mechanism to build upon long term.
22and25, I don't under stand why you are arguing? Everyone posted, besides you, say they agree and something needs to change. Who cares if they game is exactly the same as it was 100 years ago. Either you evolve and continue to live or you go extinct! If fans are finding it boring then you need to evolve. Change is necessary. I am much more interested in watching college baseball and I don't care who is playing! When "my" mlb team is on, I struggle to watch more then an inning or two. Now I will take the family to a game or two a year, but other then that, I don't really watch too much of that on TV, it's boring.
