MLB officially has announced the adoption of "several new rules" for this season, including the "somewhat controversial requirement that relief pitchers must face at least three batters or finish the inning before being taken out of the game," according to Steve Gardner of USA TODAY. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred "pushed for the three-batter minimum as a way to cut down on the number of pitching changes during a game and speed up the pace of play." Among other new rules: Each team will "add one player to its game-day roster, increasing the number of active players from 25 to 26." Then, starting Sept. 1 through the end of the regular season, active rosters of all teams will "increase to 28 players." Meanwhile, managers now will have 20 seconds to "decide whether to challenge an umpire's call," after previously having 30 seconds (USA TODAY, 2/13). In DC, Dave Sheinin notes most of the new rules were "long expected and many of them designed to speed up the pace of play -- a longtime pet cause" of Manfred. The commissioner had "attempted to improve pace of game with some of his earlier rule changes, including the limit on mound visits and the introduction of the automatic intentional walk, but with little success." After some "modest improvement" in '18, the average game last season took 3 hours 10 minutes, an all-time high, while the average nine-inning game took 3:05, also an all-time high (WASHINGTON POST, 2/13).
TESTING THE FUTURE: In St. Louis, Rick Hummel cited a source as saying that nine Spring Training facilities, which also serve as venues for Florida State League games, "will be using" ABS (Automated Balls and Strikes) technology this spring. But Hummel noted it will be "in test mode only for the major-league games." Data will be "assembled from the spring games and then the system is set to be full bore" when the FSL uses it during the regular season (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 2/12).
