I was thinking your idea would be to put a hit batter on second instead of first. I think I like that idea better because as you alluded to, it punishes pitchers more equally. With the ejection rule, starting pitchers have a strong advantage because they're more likely to have a HBP forgiveness available. More pitcher ejections could also lead to roster balance issues.
This was actually my first idea. Or maybe escalating penalties — the first HBP is one base, the second is two bases, etc. I would be open to going down that path but it felt a little more gimmicky to me (like the extra-innings rule).
Found your piece on Notes. Very interesting stuff. I believe pitch velocity is an issue on a range of fronts, but never connected the dots to potential rules changes. Gonna mull on this on.
Since the runner on 2nd rule was instituted, I've thought that they should wait until the 11th or 12th to do it. Let the game try to end organically. In the minors though, I'm all for it. Nobody needs to work in a minor league game that goes 17 innings.
I wonder too if the strikeout problem will take time to almost self correct itself due to the fact we've developed an entire generation of hitters who focus primarily on launch angle and pulling the ball without concern for strikeouts because of the shift rules. so even though the rules changed there's still a lot of that all or nothing approach. and for a lot of players there isn't going to be a strong urge probably to change their approach. Like, "I got here and had success with x, I'm not going to start doing y and fail." it might take a while for a new wave of hitters to come through focusing a little more on contact and putting the ball in play. Or, it could just be this is what the game is now, so i don't know🤷♂️
I was thinking your idea would be to put a hit batter on second instead of first. I think I like that idea better because as you alluded to, it punishes pitchers more equally. With the ejection rule, starting pitchers have a strong advantage because they're more likely to have a HBP forgiveness available. More pitcher ejections could also lead to roster balance issues.
This was actually my first idea. Or maybe escalating penalties — the first HBP is one base, the second is two bases, etc. I would be open to going down that path but it felt a little more gimmicky to me (like the extra-innings rule).
Found your piece on Notes. Very interesting stuff. I believe pitch velocity is an issue on a range of fronts, but never connected the dots to potential rules changes. Gonna mull on this on.
Since the runner on 2nd rule was instituted, I've thought that they should wait until the 11th or 12th to do it. Let the game try to end organically. In the minors though, I'm all for it. Nobody needs to work in a minor league game that goes 17 innings.
Tell me how stupid this idea is: hit batsmen aren't awarded 1B, the at-bat terminates and the batting team is awarded **a run**.
I wonder too if the strikeout problem will take time to almost self correct itself due to the fact we've developed an entire generation of hitters who focus primarily on launch angle and pulling the ball without concern for strikeouts because of the shift rules. so even though the rules changed there's still a lot of that all or nothing approach. and for a lot of players there isn't going to be a strong urge probably to change their approach. Like, "I got here and had success with x, I'm not going to start doing y and fail." it might take a while for a new wave of hitters to come through focusing a little more on contact and putting the ball in play. Or, it could just be this is what the game is now, so i don't know🤷♂️