Start the count at 3-2: a refinement.

Original post:

http://radicalbaseball.blogspot.com/2008/04/start-at-bats-with-count-3-2.html

THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008

Start at bats with the count 3-2.
Another great idea from slow pitch softball.

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The idea is to SPEED up the game.

I'll bet that 3-2 plate appearances are at least FIVE minutes long. That's nuts. The idea is to put the ball in play, not jerk around. Baseball is a game of batting, fielding and base running. Pitching dominated MLB is a perversion.

Refinement:

http://radicalbaseball.blogspot.com/2009/10/if-i-could-change-only-one-rule.html

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2009

If I could change only one rule ...
Start the count on 3-2 and limit the batter to three swings.

If you think it through you will see that it fixes much of what causes MLB to be so uneventful and boring. Dull baseball fans could keep all the rest of the lousy rules and procedures for which they lack the imagination to improve.

The initial reaction to my rule change is that the burden would be on the pitcher. Think it through. The batter must put the ball in play, not merely stay alive by fouling off pitches. As soon as the batter takes a strike he is out. As soon as the batter misses a pitch he is out. If the batter fouls off three pitches, he is out.

1. Each AB would be a maximum of three pitches.
2. There would be fewer pitching changes.
3. Pitchers would probably throw mostly fastballs not those silly Bugs Bunny pitches that are often out of the strike zone.
4. There would be fewer meetings. What's there to discuss?
5. Batters would have much less reason to step out of the box.
6. Bunting would decrease.

There is no downside. Watching the pitcher work to set up the batter is boring and silly since there is so much dead time between pitches. Each pitch is a separate event with no flow from pitch to pitch. How do you get a batter leaning when the batter can barely remember what the previous pitch was?

I am open to to this: eliminate the two fouls for the batter. ANYTHING to speed up the damn game!