What you need to know about MLB’s 2023 rule changes
Change is coming to the major leagues! Last September, Major League Baseball’s competition committee voted to implement rule changes that will begin when spring training games begin this month. All of these rules have been in place in the minor leagues over the previous seasons, leading to wide-ranging changes in pace of play and on-field action.
The rules include a first-ever pitch clock, the elimination of the shift, bigger bases and a limit to how many times a pitcher can disengage from the rubber. Here’s everything you need to know about the new rules, what they’ll mean for the players and how the game is likely to change.
The shift
The new rule: At the time a pitch is thrown, all four infielders are required to be on the infield dirt (or infield grass) with two on each side of second base. Players will be able to move as soon as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. Originally, infielders who began the game on one side of the field would not be allowed to switch to the other side for the entirety of the game but that was revised to just each inning – unless there’s a mid-inning substitution. In other words, a player who starts an inning at first or second base has to remain on that side of the field for the whole inning but can switch to short or third base the next inning. If there’s an injury mid-inning, then the infield can be reset.
How it will be enforced: If the hitting team reaches base and runners advance on a ball hit under the violation, the game proceeds without penalties. If the play has any other consequence — an out, a sacrifice, etc. — the hitting team can decide either to accept the penalty — which would add one ball to the hitter’s count — or decline it, and the play would stand.
What they’re trying to change: The league wide batting average is down to .243 this season, the lowest since 1968. A lack of singles in particular is at the heart of the decline, with this year’s rate of 5.35 per team the fourth-lowest in MLB history — and the 2021, 2020 and 2019 seasons filling the three spots ahead of this year on the all-time list.
What it’s meant in the minors: During the first two months of the 2022 minor league season, in the lower levels of the minors where shifts are regulated, the batting average on balls in play by left-handed hitters rose by eight points. At Triple-A — where shifts are not banned — it was up only three points.
What players are saying: It would be hard to find a hitter — especially a left-handed one — who isn’t on board with eliminating the shift.
“Growing up, we never had that,” Dodgers outfielder Joey Gallo said earlier this season. “It’s tough to adjust to it because it wasn’t a thing in the minors. … Over time, it’s gotten more extreme and more effective. From a hitter’s standpoint, it’s something that could be changed.”
Perhaps surprisingly, some pitchers are onboard with the move, as well.
“My biggest complaint about the shift is, how do you explain that to kids?” Phillies reliever David Robertson said. “What’s the point of having a shortstop if he can’t play shortstop?”
Pitch clock
The new rule: Pitchers will have 15 seconds to throw a pitch with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on base. Hitters will need to be in the batter’s box with eight seconds on the pitch clock.
How it will be enforced: If a pitcher has not started “the motion to deliver a pitch” before the expiration of the clock, he will be charged with a ball. If a batter delays entering the box, he will be charged with a strike.
Each stadium will have two clocks located behind home plate on either side of the umpire while two more will be required in the outfield on either side of the batter’s eye. Spring stadiums may only have one clock in the outfield but will otherwise be fitted to the exact parameters as the MLB ones. Each umpire will be equipped with technology which will inform them when the pitch clock has expired. And for the first time, umpires will also have the ability to speak with each other via communication devices without having to meet in the middle of the infield.
What they’re trying to change: The average time of a nine-inning major league game in 2022 is 3 hours, 4 minutes, which is actually a six-minute decline from last year’s all-time high — but the time of game has been rising consistently since first crossing the 3-hour mark in 2014.
While it is not directly correlated, Statcast’s pitch tempo tracker shows 108 pitchers have averaged at least 20 seconds per pitch with the bases empty this season — led by Atlanta Braves closer Kenley Jansen at 26.1 seconds between pitches.
What it’s meant in the minors: When stricter pitch clock enforcement — based on a 14-second clock with the bases empty and an 18-second clock with runners on — began in the minors earlier this season, the results were immediate. Over the first 132 minor league games under the new rules, the average game time was 2 hours, 39 minutes. That’s 20 minutes shorter than the average time of a control set of 335 games run without the clock to begin the season (2 hours, 59 minutes) and 24 minutes shorter than the average of the 2021 season (3 hours, 3 minutes average).
What players are saying: There’s been mixed reactions to the pitch clock, with veteran relievers worried about rushing through high-leverage situations. But many young players who have spent time in the minors during the past couple of seasons are already used to it. In addition to the new pickoff rules, which are tied to the pitch clock, this is bound to create the most debate among players.
Pickoffs
The new rule: Pickoffs are one version of a “disengagement,” which consists of any time the pitcher makes a pickoff attempt, fakes a pickoff, or simply steps off the rubber for any reason, as well as when the defense requests time. Pitchers are allowed two disengagements per plate appearance without penalty. The disengagements rule resets if a runner or runners advance a base within the same plate appearance.
How it will be enforced: After a third step-off, the pitcher will be charged with a balk, unless at least one offensive player advances a base or an out is made an ensuing play after the step off.
What they’re trying to change: A lack of action on the basepaths has been a concern of MLB’s in recent attempts to improve the aesthetics of the sport, with stolen bases per team down to 0.51 per game in 2022 from 0.66 a decade ago. (In the 1980s and 1990s, stolen base rates hovered around the 0.75 range.)
What it’s meant in the minors: In 2021, when the pickoff rules went into effect in Single-A and High-A, stolen base attempts skyrocketed. This year, as the rules expanded to every league, baseball is seeing big gains throughout the minors, though slightly less drastic spikes. According to MLB.com, the stolen base attempts rate in the minors is up to 2.85 attempts per game so far this year — no team in the majors last year even averaged one.
Bigger bases
The new rule: Bases will be increased from 15 inches to 18 inches.
What they’re trying to change: The increase in the size of the bases should reduce injuries around them while increasing stolen base attempts.
What it’s meant in the minors: In Triple-A, the first season of larger bases didn’t make much of a change on its own — but in the lower levels, bigger bases combined with rules about pickoffs saw large increases in steals per nine innings. Even combined with the disengagement rules, though, MLB doesn’t believe either change will lead to teams being unable to control the run game. Injuries were reduced around the bag after the increase in size of the bases was instituted in the minors.
Position Players Pitching
The new rule: 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 runs in order to pitch a position player. The league and players are finalizing the new rule.
What they’re trying to change: The league and now even the players agree that too many position players are taking the mound over the course of the season. In fact, players believe its having a bigger and bigger impact on production, from offensive numbers to even defensive metrics – all of which come into play during arbitration and free agency. In 2017, there were 32 instances of position players pitching in a game. Last season, according to Elias, that number jumped to 132 times.
Penn State has fired coach James Franklin after 12 seasons, the school announced Sunday.
Franklin is owed more than $49 million, according to his contract. It’s the second-biggest buyout in college football history behind only Jimbo Fisher’s $76 million buyout from Texas A&M.
Associate head coach Terry Smith will serve as the Nittany Lions’ interim head coach for the remainder of the season, the school said.
Less than a year removed from an appearance in the College Football Playoff semifinals, Franklin’s program appeared to hit a new low when the Nittany Lions traveled out to Los Angeles two weeks ago only to lose to UCLA, a team that not only was winless but hadn’t previously held a lead all season.
The woes flew back home with the team to Penn State, and with them came “Fire Franklin!” chants at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. The Nittany Lions dropped their second straight home game, and third overall, when they fell to Northwestern 22-21 in front of a stunned crowd at Happy Valley.
With the two losses, Penn State became the first team since the FBS and FCS split in 1978 to lose consecutive games while favored by 20 or more points in each game, according to ESPN Research.
In Saturday’s defeat to the Wildcats, the Nittany Lions committed six penalties for 71 yards in the first half alone. They simply could never get out of their own way, and that was before quarterback Drew Allar suffered a season-ending injury in the fourth quarter.
Earlier in the season, when the losing streak began against Oregon at Happy Valley, Franklin fell to 4-21 at Penn State against AP top-10 opponents, including 1-18 against top-10 Big Ten teams.
Franklin’s .160 winning percentage against AP top-10 teams is tied for the third-worst record by a coach (minimum 25 games) at a single school since the poll era began in 1936, according to ESPN Research.
Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL, Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented NCAA sanctions in the wake of Jerry Sandusky’s sexual-abuse crimes.
Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin’s program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.
There was hope this fall might be the season when Penn State would finally break through and win its third national championship and first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.
Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.
“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.
The move will cost Penn State at a time the athletic department has committed to a $700 million renovation to Beaver Stadium. The project is expected to be completed by 2027.
Former athletic director Sandy Barbour signed Franklin to a 10-year contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to terms of the deal, Penn State will have to pay Franklin’s base salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and an insurance loan of $1 million until 2031.
It’s a steep price, but one the university appears willing to pay to find a coach who can complete the climb to a national title.
“We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon,” Kraft said. “I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Oregon State has fired coach Trent Bray in the wake of an 0-7 start, the school announced Sunday.
It is the worst start for the Beavers since 1991, when they started 0-10.
“I want to thank Coach Bray for the energy and determination he brought to the role,” athletic director Scott Barnes said in a statement. “… This was a difficult decision, but the results on the field were not acceptable and after evaluating every aspect of the football program, I believe it is in the best interests of OSU football student-athletes, our fans and our university.”
Bray, an Oregon State alum who got promoted to the head coaching job after Jonathan Smith left for Michigan State following the 2023 season, finishes with a 5-14 record after taking over in 2024.
Robb Akey, who was in his first year as special assistant to the head coach, has been named interim coach for the remainder of the season. He was the defensive coordinator at Central Michigan from 2019 to 2024.
Bray is expected to be owed a little more than $4 million in buyout money, as he was in the second year of a five-year contract. The school said the buyout will come from donor-generated funds.
The move comes after a difficult start for the Beavers, which included heartbreaking losses at home to Houston and on the road at Appalachian State. Wake Forest handily won in Corvallis on Saturday, 39-14, with a backup quarterback starting for the Demon Deacons.
“I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed. I look at myself, and I’ve got to fix it,” Bray said after Saturday’s game. “It’s unacceptable to me where we’re at. That’s just how I look at it. What can I do? I’ve got to look at it. What can I do different to get these guys going?”
Special teams coordinator Jamie Christian was fired following the loss to Appalachian State.
The move comes amid a time of financial uncertainty in college athletics, as Oregon State is set to be part of the refurbished Pac-12 in 2026. Oregon State is adjusting to significantly lower television payouts.
Oregon State made three straight bowl games under Smith prior to his departure, and Bray was a linchpin of that rebuild. Oregon State was ranked as high as No. 10 in the country in 2023.
Bray is a former All-Pac-12 player at Oregon State, an honor he earned in 2005.
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