BRADENTON, Fla. — A yr in the past, Andrew McCutchen publicly expressed concern about what he considered as elevated obstruction by fielders on stolen base makes an attempt. Quickly after, he spoke with Main League officers about it, and he’s happy with the progress made since these conversations happened.
In his eyes, final yr’s notable rule modifications, which included a pitch timer and larger bases, inspired groups to steal extra bases. Steal makes an attempt had been up final yr, and the Pirates actually took half in that spike.
However with the soar in steal makes an attempt, McCutchen additionally noticed a soar within the danger of damage. McCutchen mentioned he noticed Ji-Hwan Bae grabbing his wrist or shoulder “numerous instances” after sliding into an infielder.
“The largest factor for me was, it was simply not blatantly placing your physique in entrance of a base,” McCutchen mentioned. “If a throw takes you there, it takes you there. But when a man is stealing a base and the man catching the ball is dropping his knee in entrance of the bottom to cease you from attending to the bottom, that’s an issue. Not less than, I felt that manner.”
League officers reached out to take heed to McCutchen, and the Pirates’ veteran felt heard.
“The sport has advanced,” McCutchen mentioned. “The sport’s altering. There’s some language with residence plate now. We’ve had that for 10 years or so now. There’s been no language modified on the bottom paths. My factor was, there must be one thing finished with that as properly. We’re making an attempt to stop damage. That’s why I discussed it and why I used to be vocal about it. I’m simply making an attempt to stop damage right here. What can we do? It was good that Main League Baseball and some of the folks I talked to had been fairly aware of it.”
On the Pirates’ finish, supervisor Derek Shelton mentioned implementing obstruction extra is “a lot wanted” and that many managers additionally voiced their considerations. It actually helped their case to have McCutchen of their nook.
“When you will have a famous person participant and a man that is revered like he’s,” Shelton mentioned, “it has an impression.”
