Here's How The MLB Curb The Trend Of Teams Putting Position Players On The Pitcher's Mound

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0:36Done. No hassle. No negotiation. No guy from an online listing lowballing you. Which means by the time I'm done explaining this, you could have basically done it.

0:51Still haven't started? Hey, better late than never. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply. Baseball teams have been increasingly adding a circus act to their games and MLB officials are wondering what to do about it.

1:10Hello, I'm Steve Forbes. This is What's Ahead, where you get the insights you need to better navigate these turbulent times. Baseball fans are more and more witnessing a curious event that is both farcical and exasperating. That is, taking a position player like a first baseman and putting him on the pitching mound to pitch. The reason is basic. Pitching is the golden tool of baseball. Once upon a time, a starting pitcher was expected to go for the full nine innings. Relievers are seen as people who didn't have what it took to make the big time on the mound. How quaint that seems today. A starter who actually hurls a complete game these days is as rare as a silent politician.

1:58Teams realized that the best way to stymie batters was having pitchers go for maximum speed on nearly every pitch. That, of course, can burn out arms quickly. That's why teams now have legions of pitchers compared to times past. The increased velocity of pitching is one reason why MOB batting averages have been trending down for years. The need to preserve the health of pitching arms is why we are more and more being treated to the spectacle of using regular players to go on the mound to finish games where a team is woefully behind. Why waste a reliever on a hopeless cause? You might need them in a competitive game the next day.

2:41As the season closes, managers are even more protective of their relievers as their teams compete for making it to the playoffs. These faux relievers are instructed not to throw fast or do anything that might injure them. Just toss the ball and hope for the best. Eventually the game will end. But the results are comical and distorting. You get home runs galore. The Chicago Cubs recently set a franchise record of home runs in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Baseball purists are asking if homers hit off such full pitchers shouldn't be treated in the future with an asterisk, since there are no more real four baggers than a ball whacked in batting practice.

3:25Not to mention all the other hits achieved against a fake pitcher. The practice of using position players to close games that are blowouts has grown in recent years. MLB passed some rules to restrict the practice in 2023, but is now becoming routine for fans to see someone on the mound tossing an alleged fastball at, say, 30 miles an hour versus the usual 100 miles per hour. Various solutions are being bandied about, such as restrictions on how often a position player can be put on the mound. A better approach would be to increase the permissible size of a roster by several players so a team can have more genuine arms to call on.

4:10As for low batting averages, MLB might replicate what it did in the late 1960s when it seemed players couldn't hit anymore. Lower the height of the mound. Back then, it was cut from 15 inches to 10 inches. It worked. So maybe cut it again. I'm Steve Forbes. Thanks for listening. Do send in your comments and suggestions. and look forward to being with you soon again.

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