Ball-Strike Challenges Among Experimental Rule Changes In Minors In 2022

Image credit: (Photo by Mike Janes/Four Seam Images)

In 2022, during certain Low-A Southeast games, the home plate umpire will call balls and strikes, but both teams will get three chances to appeal to the automated ball-strike system if they believe the umpire missed the call.

The new appeal system is the most significant of the experimental rules changes that are being adopted around the minors in 2022.

The automated ball-strike system that was used in the Low-A Southeast last year will also come to Triple-A West and Charlotte in Triple-A East this year. The ABS system will commence in Triple-A West starting on May 17. It will be used all season in Charlotte games.

The computerized system uses the Hawkeye system of multiple cameras to track the ball and where it crosses the plate. 

In select Low-A Southeast games with human umpires making the calls, each team will have three challenges to any ball-strike call. If the ABS rules that the home plate umpire was correct, the team loses that challenge. If the ABS overturns the call, the team keeps the challenge. 

The ABS was in use sporadically in all Low-A Southeast stadiums except Daytona in 2021 to varying success. The programmed strike zone was tweaked midway through the year to make it wider and shorter. 

 

Another change will continue to prepare teams for what seems like the eventual limitation or elimination of extreme defensive shifting.  

In Double-A, High-A and Low-A, teams will be required to position four players on the infield dirt and two apiece on either side of second base and only as deep as the end of the dirt. In other words, teams can still pinch for double plays and hug the lines to guard against extra bases, but the days of crowding one side or the other for extreme pull hitters are over. 

Since 2018, Triple-A and Double-A teams have utilized pitch clocks of 15 seconds when nobody is on base and 20 seconds with runners on. It was added to the Low-A West in the middle of the 2021 season, and garnered positive reviews from coaches and league officials. 

Now, pitch clocks will be added to parks at all levels of the minors. 

The pickoff limitation rule, which was used in Low-A West last year, will also remain in place. The pitcher may step off the rubber or attempt a pickoff up to three times per at-bat. If the third attempt is unsuccessful, the runner will be allowed to advance.

The final rules change, which was tested in Triple-A in the middle of last season, will be the move to larger bases in an effort to increase stolen base attempts and infield hits as well as reduce collisions around the bases. The size of the bags increased from 15 square inches to 18 square inches in the first half of the Triple-A East season and the second half of the season in the Triple-A West. 

Now, the increased bases will be in play at all levels. 

“This year’s set of experimental rules was informed–and we believe improved–by the feedback of players, staff, umpires and fans, as well as by analysis of the impacts of last year’s tests,” MLB consultant Theo Epstein said in a release sent out by MLB. “We are excited to roll out the improved rule experiments to a bigger population of minor league players in an effort to ensure that any potential new regulations fulfill their objectives of creating more action, athleticism and a better style of play.”