With a remarkable slash line of .322/.456/.701, all career highs, Aaron Judge has received a league-leading 11 intentional walks. This has prompted Joel Sherman, of The New York Post to call for revisiting the MLB’s intentional walk rule in response to Aaron Judge’s stellar performance this season.
Sherman presented two possible changes. The first would limit the number of times a batter can be intentionally walked in a single game. He acknowledged that pitchers might counter this by intentionally pitching outside the strike zone of players, such as Aaron Judge. To address this, Sherman suggested a rule requiring catchers to stay crouched within the catching box until the ball is delivered, akin to the new shift restrictions for infielders.
The second proposal involves awarding two bases when an intentional walk is issued. This would allow the intentionally walked batter to advance to second base, and any existing baserunners to move up two bases—potentially from first to third, or even scoring from second or third.
Aaron Judge is on fire this season. To counter his bat, the Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider adopted a free-pass strategy for the first time since 1972.
In Saturday’s game, rather than seeing another instance of sluggish effort on the basepaths, fans witnessed Schneider making a swift and deliberate choice to intentionally walk Aaron Judge. This tactic aimed to quickly neutralize the Yankees’ power hitter, who has been on a recent tear.
Sherman acknowledged that these rule changes could lead to more wild pitches and passed balls, adding another strategic element to the game. He also noted that enforcing such rules would place additional burdens on umpires.
While Sherman admitted that the chances of MLB adopting such changes and getting MLBPA approval are slim, he compared it to the NFL’s willingness to implement rules enhancing the game’s excitement. He argued that baseball could benefit from a similar approach, especially given the excitement generated by seeing players like Judge at bat.
This discussion underscores the ongoing debate in baseball about balancing tradition with potential rule changes aimed at increasing the game’s excitement and strategic complexity. Meanwhile, Yankees captain Aaron Judge is on his way to another MVP season.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
I like both of Joel Sherman’s suggestions. Limiting the number of times a batter can be Intentionally Walked makes a HUGE amount of sense because Fans do NOT pay exorbitant prices for tickets, beers & hot dogs, and the YES Channel to watch the Most Dynamic Player of our time trot down to first because the opposing pitcher & manager Aren’t Courageous Enough to Face a given batter, like Judge.
And I LOVE the idea of awarding 2 Bases to the Intentionally Walked Batter, only I would just allow on-base runners to advance one-base forward: i.e., a runner on 2nd moves to 3rd, but a runner on 3rd scores; only a runner on 1st would advance 2 bases to accommodate the Walked Batter being on 2nd.
MLB is STEALING MONEY from Fans by allowing this to continue. This is NOT what fans pay Big Buck$ to see: 3 Intentional Walks to the same batter in ONE Game is an insult to Fans & the Integrity of the Game!
And the Ridiculous Argument that these changes would be “Too Drastic” a Change in The Game is COSMICAL and UTTER BS for the following reasons:
* MLB only recently instituted the DESIGNATED HITTER in Both Leagues, which was a drastic change that was first proposed & Rejected in the 1920s. The DH did NOT EXIST for More Than 100 YEARS in Baseball!
* The PITCH CLOCK did NOT EXIST for More Than 100 YEARS in Baseball! Other than the DH, that may be the Single Biggest Change in Baseball in 100+ Years, other than going to a livelier ball back in the 1920s. And did fans say, “OMG! that’s too drastic a change in the game”? NO! PEOPLE LOVED IT! And they came out in DROVES to watch men like Ruth Hit Home Runs, pushing Attendance into the Million Plus Range.
* INTER-LEAGUE PLAY is now so prevalent that it’s Utter BS to refer to there being 2 Separate Leagues! That NEVER EXISTED for 100+ YEARS in Baseball, not even in limited form!
* Raising 4 FINGERS to Intentional Walk a batter did NOT EXIST for More Than 100 YEARS in Baseball! The premise (Correctly) being that the pitcher might Mistakenly Throw a Hittable Pitch, or he might Throw a Wild Pitch that would advance any runners on base. It was a Huge mistake to institute the 4-FINGER Intentional Walk. By instituting that Silly Rule to save 1-2 minutes on a single plate appearance, MLB was giving just ONE FINGER to the fans, and guess which one that was!
* MLB just Increased the Size of 1st, 2nd & 3rd base — for the First Time in History! — to make it EASIER to Steal Bases. That did NOT EXIST for More Than 100 YEARS in Baseball! And how much would Lou Brock & Rickey Henderson have LOVED larger bases when they sole 118 & 130 Bases, respectively? Hell, they might have Stolen 150-175 Bases with these Larger Bases.
* Old-Time Ballparks ALWAYS had 1 or 2 fields that were the Length of a City Block because they were designed to take up an Entire City Block. As New Stadiums were built, they were Made Smaller & Smaller to Drastically Increase the Number of Home Runs in the Game! And even older parks, like the Original Yankee Stadium, had several Fences Drastically Brought in to Increase the Number of Home Runs in Games! And did fans say, “OMG! that’s too drastic a change in the game”? NO! PEOPLE LOVED IT! And they came out in EVER INCREASING NUMBERS, DRIVING ATTENDANCE TO 4 MILLION PLUS IN SOME BALLPARKS!
* Until Recently, a pitcher could throw over to first (or another bag) as often as he liked. Now that number is limited to 3 or the pitcher is charged with a Balk & the Runner Advances 1 Base. That Rule NEVER EXISTED BEFORE in Baseball History!
So, I’ve now cited SEVEN DRASTIC CHANGES Instituted just RECENTLY, and there have been others (like a reliever must face 3 batters before he exits). SO, MLB . . .
SPARE ME THE BULLSH*T THAT either of Joel Sherman’s SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE TOO DRASTIC A CHANGE IN THE GAME! That’s Utter Nonsense, given The Above Recent DRASTIC CHANGES!
Finally, I’ll address Another Moronic Argument Against these changes; that is “that enforcing such rules would place additional burdens on umpires.”
Ah, you mean those Poor Arrogant Babes who Regularly Throw Hissy Fits anytime a player or manager points out that they were WRONG on a called strike, WHEN LITERALLY EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET WITH A TV COULD SEE THAT THEY WERE WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, AND BLIND AS A BAT?!
Of course, there’s any easy way to eliminate this “extra” burden on the Men With Seeing-Eye Dogs: institute the automatic ball-strike system, known as ABS, which has been used in Triple-A since the beginning of last season.
AND SPARE ME ANY BULLSH*T about it NOT Being Perfect! Many of today’s Seeing-Eye-Dog-Needy Umpires are WRONG 50-80% of the time on Close Calls. I recently watched a Yankee game where the Ump looked like he was playing “BLIND MAN’S BLUFF” throughout the game.
That Ump Royally Screwed BOTH teams on 8 out of 10 Close Pitches. He Literally Couldn’t Have Gotten More Calls Wrong If He Said: “EENY, MEENY, MINY, MOE?”
Make the changes Joel Sherman recommended AND institute the automatic ball-strike system (ABS). 99% of Fans haven’s played BLIND MAN’S BLUFF or EENY, MEENY, MINY, MOE in 15-70 Years, don’t inflict that infantile crap on us anymore!