Year of the Pitcher...Again?

Change is coming to Major League Baseball. When your favorite teams take the field for the 2023 season, things will look a little different, on the field and, perhaps, on the scoreboard, all brought about by one of those pivotal moments in the never-ending baseball battle between pitcher and batter.

Fifty-four years ago, in what is known as the original "Year of the Pitcher," just six players had a batting average of .300 or higher for the 1968 season. In 2022, MLB saw just 11 players finish at .300 or above. That's the fewest since...you guessed it...1968!

In that year, the pitcher reigned. Detroit Tiger Denny McClain won 31 games, a feat that hadn't been achieved since 1934 and one that hasn't been done since. LA Dodger Don Drysdale (pictured above) set the record for consecutive scoreless innings at 55, a record that St. Louis Cardinal Bob Gibson came within a few innings of topping that same month on his way to a live-ball record ERA of 1.12. Of the six hitters who topped .300, Cincinnati's Pete Rose hit .335 to lead the top five hitters in the NL, and Boston's Carl Yastrzemski was the ONLY batter in the AL to top .300, and he barely made it, registering a .301 average.

As a result of the 1968 season, the following year saw change. In hopes of increasing the number of runs per game – therefore increasing the entertainment value of the game – the height of the pitching mound decreased to ten inches. In addition, the strike zone was shrunk to the size it is today.

While the pitching mound won't be adjusted after the 2022 "Year of the Pitcher," we will see a few changes to the game. Pitchers will be under even more pressure as a pitch clock is set to be included, starting next season. The new rule states that if the bases are empty, pitchers will have 15 seconds to deliver a pitch once the batter sets up in the box. Additionally, should there be runners on base, the clock will be increased to 20 seconds.

Two other changes coming to the game are increased base sizes and a limit on defensive shifts. Bases will be increased from 15 inches to 18 inches, which is related to player safety. In terms of defensive shifts, two infielders must be positioned on either side of second base when the pitch is released. Plus, all four infielders must have their feet in the infield when the pitcher is on the rubber. 

These three changes are new, but change itself is not entirely unfamiliar to the game. MLB has seen changes since 1901, when the rule was changed to count foul balls as strikes if they were not caught on the fly – unless the batter had two strikes already. Eight years later, the requirement that a pitcher had to face a minimum of one batter was introduced, which was changed to a minimum of three in 2020. 

More recently, the rule that batters must have one foot in the batter's box during their at-bat was introduced in 2015. In 2018, MLB began to limit the number of mound visits a team could have. 

All of these changes have been made with one goal in mind; to make the game of baseball as entertaining as possible. One might argue that it's baseball – how could it get any better? But, like it or not, change is coming. All the more reason for our Nashville Stars fans and baseball fans everywhere to look forward already to next season.