SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The double play may change dramatically this season after Major League Baseball amended its rules to eliminate the “neighborhood play” at second base.
A set of sweeping changes also include a time clock for mound visits by managers and coaches. They now have just 30 seconds, from their first step outside the dugout, to talk to a pitcher.
MLB’s tweaks to its rule book for slides into all bases during double-play attempts, though, will change how runners and fielders operate.
The so-called neighborhood play — when an infielder makes a glancing effort to touch a base for a force out, even if he never makes contact, for purposes of safety — will no longer be allowed. That play, for the first time, will be reviewable by replay.
At the same time, MLB is trying to protect infielders from dangerous slides.
The changes came in response to two serious injuries last season — including the Mets’ Ruben Tejada, who broke his leg during the playoffs after the Dodgers’ Chase Utley slid late into the base.
MLB’s new rules for baserunners say they must:
• Not change their path to the base.
• Be able to and attempt to touch the base.
• Be able to and attempt to stay on the base.
• Make contact with the ground before reaching the base.
MLB hopes the first two rules, already loosely in place last season, will cut down on wide slides, the second two to discourage late slides.
If a baserunner violates any of the rules, the umpire can call an immediate double play.
The new pace-of-play rules also include cutting the between-innings time clock from 2 minutes, 25 seconds to 2:05, for locally televised games.
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or @nickgroke
