Trea Turner Unsurprisingly Loves New Baserunning Rules
Philadelphia Phillies’ shortstop Trea Turner is a fan of MLB’s new baserunning rules, but a toddler could have told you that.
As part of MLB’s greater pace of play initiatives and new rulebook rolled out in the 2023 season, one of the goals is to allow for more stolen bases and to make players more inclined to steal. Stealing bases is a lost art in today’s league, with the leaguewide number of steals being in decline for the last few seasons.
The rules that the league has decided to impose on baserunning are two-pronged. First, the pickoff rule, which was more relevant to Turner’s interview. Pitchers are only allowed to step off from the rubber twice per plate appearance and can only throw to a base once.
This rule is designed to stop the laborious five-plus-pickoff attempts per at-bat, which completely kills the flow of a baseball game. To go along with this rule, the bases themselves have increased from 15 inches to 18 inches.
MLB has determined that stealing is good.
Turner, in his first spring training game, swiped a bag with ease after his first at-bat single.
“I love it,” Turner said to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Corey Seidman. “I’m looking forward to that a lot. Still not going to be super easy to steal bases, the game is hard in that aspect. From wear and tear on your body, I think it’s going to be nice.”
Okay, Trea. You and I both know that you might steal 60 bases this year and it will be super easy.
These new baserunning rules are designed for players that are fast but didn’t steal in the past. For example, Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo ranked in the 84th percentile of sprint speed last season, according to Baseball Savant. Nimmo only swiped three bags in 2022, however.
The point is, these rules were put in place to encourage players to steal without risking injury as easily. What the rule will end up being is a glitch for players like Turner to shred the base paths.
Look, I’m not complaining about this. If you have fast players and good base stealers, it’s a huge advantage for your baseball team. I just think it’s going to get a little bit extreme.
In any event, Philadelphia is pumped up about their new golden goose at shortstop. Manager Rob Thompson spoke about Turner’s fit in the lineup.
“He showed what he can do, get on base, steal bases, walks, made a nice play in the hole,” Thomson said to Seidman. “That’s who he is and why he fits in this lineup as perfectly as he does.”
The Phillies were already going to be really good in 2023, and the baserunning rule just adds to that.
***
Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch
Click here for more MLB content
Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube
