LAKELAND, Fla. -- Changes are coming to baseball.
Major League Baseball and the players’ association today jointly announced a series of rule modifications that will be in place for the upcoming season.
Most notable among them is the elimination of the four-pitch intentional walk and a 30-second limit on a manager’s decision to challenge a play.
Instead of pitchers throwing four intentional balls outside of the strike zone, the “no-pitch intentional walk” will start with the defensive team’s manager signaling the decision to intentionally walk the batter to the home plate umpire. Following the signal, the umpire will award first base to the batter.