To speed up the pace of a baseball game, Major League Baseball executives have eliminated the four-pitch intentional walk rule and replaced it with a simple signal from the dugout for the batter to go to first base with the intention of speeding games up.
“Every little change that makes the game faster, I personally believe is a good thing for the game over the long haul,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said.
Some see the four-pitch rule as “routine” or “mundane,” but the few times a pitcher fails to deliver a catchable ball to a catcher — instead delivering a wild pitch — there can be moments of great excitement.
As a pitcher at the collegiate level, I know exactly what it is like to walk a batter intentionally. It is, by no means, an easy or simple task. A pitcher’s job is to throw baseballs as hard as he can time after time, so, when the call comes to intentionally walk a batter, the pitcher must take some velocity off his throw and accurately deliver the ball to the catcher as he stands behind the opposite batter’s box. This change in arm velocity and location of target defies a pitcher’s routine and can result in an errant throw.
In most cases, the objective of an intentional walk is to set up a double play in a key situation, such as a runner on third with one out. The idea is to not let the runner on third score. If a pitcher is anything but sharp on those four intentionally thrown balls and the ball gets past the catcher, the runner scores. This can provide a lot of excitement if the run that scores ties or unties a score, changing the momentum of the game.
Intentional walks also serve as an opportunity for the crowd to let the opposing pitcher know how they feel. If I’m at a game at Comerica Park and Miguel Cabrera is up to bat with a chance at one or two RBIs and the opposing pitcher is told to walk the big hitter, boos will rain down on the pitcher. While it can be a badge of honor to be intentionally walked on multiple occasions, good Americans don’t pay to attend games to watch Cabrera get walked. They’ll vent their frustrations on the pitcher as he metaphorically waves a white flag on the mound, signaling he doesn’t have good enough stuff to get the hometown hero out. This gives the crowd a chance to unite for a minute and yell at the other team.
Baseball fans love these moments when a pitcher hits a homerun or an infielder throws his glove to the first baseman because the ball is stuck in its web, or when a team turns a triple play. What’s so different about a wild pitch scoring a run or a base hit coming from a poorly-placed intentional ball? In baseball, when the ultra-rare happens, fans go nuts.
In ushering in the dugout-signaled intentional walk, there is no longer a line to decide what is pointless in baseball and what is not
If the executives are so concerned about shaving a minute from the length of the average game, they should direct their efforts elsewhere. They could limit the number of pitching changes, doing away with one-out/one-batter relievers, as this requires the coach to walk out to the mound, signal to the bullpen, and have the reliever throw his warmup pitches while the crowd waits. This can happen three or four times and often at climactic moments in a game, when delays lessen the tension that fans enjoy.
What’s next? Doing away with the batter having the chance to run to first on a dropped third strike? Or telling hitters not to trot the bases when they crush no-doubt home runs?
Certain traditions in the game of baseball are there for excitement and the chance that something rare could happen. I am more than willing to wait for an intentional walk to conclude if it means that something out of the ordinary might happen.
After all, aren’t those some of the best moments in baseball?
