Blue Jays eager to see impact, subtle and obvious, from new rules in spring opener

DUNEDIN, Fla. — A month of Grapefruit League play that doubles as a crash-course into baseball’s new guidelines begins Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. ET on Sportsnet) for the Toronto Blue Jays once they go to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Most every part from delicate to apparent can be impacted by the addition of a 15-second pitch clock, a ban on infield shifting, and expanded bases. Jays supervisor John Schneider and his teaching employees have made efforts to fast-track the acclimation course of a precedence.

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Even nonetheless, intrigue is excessive round how lower than two weeks of drills interprets for gamers within the exhibition opener.

“The thing I’m most curious about — obviously the baserunning stuff is kind of wacky with the two-pick maximum; the pitch clock I don’t think is going to make that big a difference at all, at least for me — is guys walking up to the plate,” mentioned utilityman Cavan Biggio. “Guys have a lot of different routines where they like to do their thing, whatever it takes, and that usually is going to have to be sped up because of the pitch clock. But overall, besides the baserunning part of things, it’s going to be interesting to see how fast you have to get in the box.”

Whit Merrifield, one among simply 4 gamers on the 11-person competitors committee, can be targeted on how umpires handle across the clock.

“I’m not that slow of a worker when I’m hitting but there are times when I like to take that extra second to gather myself, and there are times when you need to,” he mentioned. “For instance, if you foul a ball off your foot, if you hit one that’s just foul, that you’re busting out of the box trying to get to second, you get back and you’ve got to catch your breath. Will umpires give us that little bit of understanding and have a little bit of feel for it? That’s going to be a big test.”

It can be one among many. And groups can even carefully monitor each other, as properly, to see how they try to strategy every part from pitching rhythms to base-stealing.

The Blue Jays have held almost each day conferences to go over the ins-and-outs of the foundations and the varied approaches to them. Pitching coach Pete Walker believes that on the mound, “we can use (the clock) to our advantage.”

“They want to be good at it,” he added. “They don’t want to be someone who’s struggling with it. So they’re all encouraged to embrace it and work at it and get better at it.”

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To that finish, the Blue Jays have mentioned having their pitchers come set by the eight-second mark, when the batter have to be within the field alert to the pitcher, after which fluctuate timing from there. They can let the pitch fly the primary second they will, maybe catching hitters unprepared, or maintain the ball for so long as six seconds, which is a very long time for the batter to remain prepared.

With hitters solely in a position to name time as soon as per at-bat, pitchers can virtually totally dictate tempo.

“If I’m a pitcher, I’m getting three pitches in my hat, like a football player, to start things off. Like, fastball, slider, fastball,” mentioned Merrifield. “First-pitch fastball, boom. All right, I’m ready for the next pitch. As soon as the hitter looks at me, I’m going, making him use his time out. And now the pitcher’s got him beat.”

As infielders, each Merrifield and Biggio additionally should alter to the defensive shift guidelines.

Beyond being pressured to have two gamers on both facet of the second base bag, infielders should additionally begin on the dust, a small tweak for each, as they often positioned themselves on the lip of the grass to assist with angles and response time.

There can even be much less time between pitches to regulate their spots, hitter-to-hitter and pitch-to-pitch.

“Before we have been getting our alignment from the dugout and typically that may take a short time for them to get from Luis (Rivera, the infield coach) or no matter,” mentioned Biggio. “Now we’re going to be working more off a card in our back pocket so we can do it on our own time.”

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The Blue Jays used shifts 50.3 per cent of the time final 12 months, third most within the majors, together with a big-league excessive 42.9 per cent of the time in opposition to right-handed hitters, underlining how a lot the group believes in its information and sought to weaponize it.

Expect them to nonetheless hunt down methods to leverage that data.

“The shift is such a tricky thing because you’re playing percentages and you’re trying to project where the ball is going with actual where-the-ball-is-hit data,” mentioned Schneider. “I think you’re still going to see a lot of teams almost in a shift with a fielder close to second base for a righty or lefty. That’s kind of how we’re planning it. We’re still going to pay attention to tendencies within the limitations of the rules. It’ll be interesting to see how they play. I would be shocked if everyone kind of went to the (circa) 1985 … third base, shortstop, second base, first base (alignment). I think you’re going to see some variations.”

NOTES: Brandon Belt is build up at a slower tempo as he comes off late summer time knee surgical procedure. “He’s doing his normal cage routine,” mentioned John Schneider. “He was doing some defensive stuff in there (Friday), feeling great. Just a little bit behind because of the because of the procedure.” … Catcher Alejandro Kirk’s participation within the World Baseball Classic with Mexico is turning into more and more unlikely whereas he stays away from camp awaiting the beginning of his baby. The Blue Jays have tried to play out the clock however count on to “have clarity (Saturday),” mentioned Schneider. “We’re still finalizing some things, but we’ve been in touch with him every day.” … While there are gamers irritated by the brand new guidelines, Pete Walker believes carrying the fitting angle is important: “It’s not changing and everybody realizes that. Our live BPs are giving them a little bit of a taste. But we’ve had some great group discussions, great meetings about it, so they understand the clock itself and it’s just about getting used to it during spring training.”