Three new MLB rules, and three Phillies who likely will be impacted

CLEARWATER, Fla. — At 9 a.m. Monday, Phillies players gathered at their lockers for a presentation on the pitch clock. In the coming days and weeks, there may be similar meetings to go over the ban on infield shifts, larger bases, and more.

Welcome to spring training 2023, where there’s more talk about rules than in your average elementary school.

It’s a brave new world in Major League Baseball, with the adoption of profound rules changes designed to quicken the pace of play and add action to the game. Once spring training games begin (Saturday for the Phillies), the rules will be enforced and penalties will be handed down. It’s likely to get messy, and complaints from players will surely pour in.

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“Look,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a news conference last week in Dunedin, Fla., “players are entitled to have views about what should happen on the field. We try to be really respectful of those views. We went out of our way to gather input from players. But it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re putting the best product out there for our fans.”

As with any seismic changes, some players will have to fundamentally alter how they work. Many stand to benefit from the new rules; others may struggle. But almost everyone will have to adapt.

Here’s a look at three new rules and three Phillies players who will be affected:

For most of Kyle Schwarber’s eight-year major league career, opponents have defended against his left-handed pull power by shifting an infielder to shallow right field. Last season, it happened in a career-high 90.5% of his plate appearances, according to Statcast.

Not anymore.

The new rules stipulate that teams must keep two infielders on the dirt and on either side of second base. In theory, then, many balls that Schwarber hits to the right side of the field will be hits instead of getting gobbled up by the shifted infielder.

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“You’d be stupid as a left-handed hitter not to be happy about it,” Schwarber said.

But Schwarber also expects that teams might devise inventive ways to defend against extreme pull hitters. Although he doubts that a shortstop would be able to sprint from his spot on the left side of second base to shallow right field in time to make a play — “I think that would just be too hard,” he said — he wouldn’t be surprised if a team moved its left fielder across the field. There aren’t restrictions on outfielder positioning.

“I’ve heard that idea,” Schwarber said. “Sure, go ahead. I’ll hit a flare to left, or I’ll hit a line drive to center that’ll be a triple or an inside-the-parker with my speed.”

Schwarber laughed and said, “It’s going to be interesting to see how teams still shift within the regulations and things like that.”

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One thing seems certain: Schwarber’s batting average stands to go up. One MLB.com study estimated that Schwarber could gain 12 hits without the shift. Twelve extra hits last year would’ve hiked his average from .218 to .239.

“Whenever you hit a good bullet out into right field and they’re caught, it gets annoying,” Schwarber said. “But it was part of the game. You had to deal with it. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens now and how teams do attack it.”

Trea Turner has led the National League in stolen bases twice in the last five years. Since 2016, he leads the majors in steals (228) and attempts (268), and ranks fourth in success rate (85.07%) among players with at least 50 steal attempts.

And that was before the bases grew from 15-by-15-inch squares to 18-by-18 inches.

“I don’t know how much that comes into play,” Turner said. “You’re still going to be out by an inch, you’re still going to be safe by an inch.”

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But there’s something else that figures to enhance Turner’s need for speed. Pitchers will be allowed only two “disengagements” from the rubber, including pickoff attempts. After that, the pitcher will be charged with a balk if he attempts to pick off a runner and is unsuccessful.

Surely it will make it more difficult to control the running game.

“I know a lot of people are going to expect a lot more stolen bases out of me,” Turner said. “I think those rules are definitely going to come into play, and we’ve got to game plan and figure it out. There’s going to be a learning curve in the beginning.”

The curve is steepest for pitchers.

Wherever Phillies pitchers go — from the seven mounds where they throw bullpen sessions to the fields for live batting practice — a pitch clock awaits them.

In MLB’s most progressive step to speed the pace of play, the pitcher must begin his motion to deliver a pitch within 15 seconds from the previous pitch with the bases empty, and 20 seconds with runners on. Hitters will be sped up, too. The hitter must be in the box and alert with 8 seconds left on the clock.

But the focus has been on pitchers, who also will be allowed only one backward or lateral step before stepping forward. Some of the more funky deliveries (think of Astros starter Luis Garcia’s “rock the baby” move) will be rendered illegal.

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Manager Rob Thomson said none of the Phillies pitchers will have to eliminate such quirks. That includes newly acquired reliever Craig Kimbrel’s signature pre-pitch pose in which he bends his torso parallel to the ground and dangles his right arm at a 90-degree angle.

But some pitchers will have to adjust their pace. They know who they are, Thomson said. The Phillies have a list of pitchers who worked the slowest last season. According to Statcast, reliever Andrew Bellatti averaged 18.6 seconds per pitch with the bases empty (tied for sixth slowest in baseball) and 21.3 seconds per pitch with runners on (tied for 13th).

Closers tend to be some of the slowest workers. Kimbrel averaged 16.8 seconds per pitch with the bases empty last season, 19.3 with runners on base. He’ll need to be faster, or else he will be charged with an automatic ball. (Hitters who aren’t ready will incur an automatic strike.)

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“There are a couple of guys that we’ve really talked to them about it, being aware of the clock and speeding up their process before they get to their delivery,” Thomson said. “And so far, so good. They’re aware of it. They don’t want any violations on them, so they’re working at it and asking a lot of questions about it.”

And if the Phillies need to schedule more meetings like Monday’s, they’ll do that, too.