PHOENIX — Here’s how much A’s reliever Ryan Buchter hates MLB’s proposed three-batter minimum for pitchers, which is set to take effect for the 2020 season. His plan, he says on a late February morning in Oakland’s spring training camp, is to send a photo of his two-year-old daughter, Ella, to the commissioner’s office with a simple message: “You’re taking food out of her mouth.”
“It’s stupid,” Buchter says of the new rule. “A manager has to bring me into a game to face three hitters even if a guy has a great career average against me.