For all the talk of radical rules changes in baseball, the alterations for the 2017 season are relatively minor.
In the interest of speeding the pace of the game — if not necessarily the time of the game — a batter getting an intentional walk will simply take first base, with no pitches being thrown. The average team drew 31 intentional walks last season, or one about every five games.
Also, managers will have 30 seconds to challenge a play via instant replay, and replay officials will be expected to complete their review in no more than two minutes.
The most intriguing of the rules changes announced Thursday: Teams are banned from marking the field in any way “that could create a tangible reference system for fielders.”
The New York Mets last year challenged the Dodgers’ use of a laser system to aid in positioning their outfielders at Citi Field. The Dodgers said they had made markings in the Dodger Stadium outfield and had extended the same courtesy to any other team that asked.
“You just don’t go paint somebody else’s field,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said then.
Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson said then that “marking the field seemed to go beyond the rule book.” The league cleared the Dodgers at the time.
The new rule bans that practice but, as announced, does not explicitly ban the use of lasers so long as there are no markings on the field.
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
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