The offseason is coming to an end and spring training is right around the corner. Spring training camps open across Arizona and Florida later this week, then, next weekend, the Cactus League and Grapefruit League seasons begin. Real live baseball is less than two weeks away, even if the games are meaningless.
When exhibition games begin, fans and players alike will get their first look at MLB’s newest rule changes. Specifically, there will be a pitch clock, larger bases, and a limit on extreme infield shifts. The new rules are all part of the league’s efforts to improve pace of play and create more action on the field by rewarding contact and encouraging more aggressive base running.
There may be another, much more subtle rule change coming as well. According to ESPN, MLB and the MLBPA are working on a rule to reduce the number of pitcher player pitcher appearances. From ESPN:
Teams will be more limited in when they can pitch a position player. The previous rule allowed them to use one when up or down by six or more runs, but the sides are discussing a tweak in which the leading team would have to be up by as many as 10 or more while the trailing team would have to be down by eight or more in order to pitch a position player. The league and players are finalizing the new rule.
Not including Shohei Ohtani, there were a record 132 position player pitching appearances in 2022, or slightly less than one per day. That number was 89 in 2021. There were 93 position player pitching appearances total from 2010-15, and there were 57 total during the entire 1990s. Putting a position player on the mound used to be the ultimate humiliation. Now it’s a strategy.
Case in point: Hanser Alberto. The Los Angeles Dodgers put Alberto, a career utility infielder, on the mound 10 times last season, including eight times in wins. The new rule limiting position player pitchers to games their team is leading by at least 10 runs would have reduced that number to four, which is still a ton, but the new rule would have cut into the strategy quite a bit.
Point is, position players pitchers used to be a fun novelty, but now they’re commonplace even though position players don’t train to pitch and are at increased risk of injury, which is the MLBPA’s primary concern. The union is also concerned about players getting dinged by defensive stats, which could hurt them in arbitration.
It appears MLB and the MLBPA are motivated to get a new position player pitching rule in place that won’t outlaw the practice entirely, but will reduce the number of times it happens overall. That’s good news for the sport’s competitive landscape.