Now Chalk is Even Banned by MLB… Sort Of

People don’t like change. Hell to put it bluntly, people are terrified of change. I am terrified of change but I am learning more and more every day that change is not only necessary but it’s good as well. Change can be good but change just for change’s sake is borderline annoying and that is seemingly what Major League Baseball and Commissioner Rob Manfred are doing right now in the game. Again, some change is good. The additions to instant replay and the pace of play rules that don’t drastically change the game I think are good but some rules are just downright silly… and here is the perfect example of that.

We’ve already heard of the intentional walk rule that will see batters simply take their base rather than watching the pitcher soft toss four balls outside the zone but a few more rules were announced this week. Baseball now has just two minutes for instant replays and of all things teams cannot use chalk or markers to better position its fielders. Whatever that means. See below for the complete rule list.

MLB & the MLBPA today jointly announced a series of modifications that have been approved and will be in place in the 2017 regular season: pic.twitter.com/IjVboUSCGd

— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) March 2, 2017

More Instant Replay Changes to Come in 2017

In the world of Major League Baseball where the Commissioner is named Rob Manfred it seems like the only constant anymore is change and more change is coming to the game once again. While Manfred and the head of the MLB Players Association Tony Clark met recently to discuss the new intentional walk rule as well as possible rule changes the for 2018 season there are a couple changes to the instant replay system that are also on the way as soon as 2017.

Managers will now have 30 seconds to decide whether they want to issue a challenge or not rather than stalling while their bench coach gets word from the team via phone for however long they decide to stall for. If an instant replay challenge is requested by a manager the booth in New York and the umpires will only have two minutes to make a ruling on whether to overturn the call or not.

So there you have it, more ways to change the game and speed up the process without making the purists, the casual fan, the players or the Union upset with the owners and the league. Progress, ladies and gentleman. Progress, indeed.