New rules everyone

Rick Pauly said:

Yes, I have those fears but what I fear most is the reduction of distance/reaction time for the pitcher. Some lawyer is going to get a lot of money from the people who knowingly changed the rule placing a kid in a potentially more dangerous situation.

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Rocketech1 said:

Note sure this a a valid concern and reason not to implement the rule. If the new rules allow a kid to throw a little bit faster (especially at the younger ages) they are more likely to have swing and misses on the batter who can't catch up to the pitch as its thrown harder (i.e. less balls put in play than with slower pitching and more live drives). Any decrease in reaction time for fielding would be negated by the fact that less balls are put in play to cause injury. Would we have this same concern with youth baseball, "the boys shouldn't throw any faster because their fielding reaction is a split second slower?". Should we NOT train pitchers to pitch faster because of a reduction in distance/reaction time? I think not.

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Rick Pauly said:

College baseball seems to be very concerned with reaction time.....it wasn't to many years ago that they reduced the exit velocity allowed off of bats.....two primary reasons were 1) safety of the defensive players; 2) game scores looked more like football scores than baseball scores....home runs.
Also, faster pitch speeds equal faster exit velocities off the bat.....less reaction time.
As a pitching coach I am typically in favor of any advantage a pitcher is given that does not make a mockery of the game.....however I worry when safety seems to be ignored.

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