Sunday, April 3rd marked the beginning of baseball and it did not disappoint. The 2016 teams came to play, but most importantly, to win. With fresh faces and new rules this week in baseball was one for the books.
Young stars seems to be the trend for this coming season, newcomers such as Kenta Maeda of the Dodgers and number 11 on the prospect list Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies are just some of the kids that have already made a name for themselves. Maeda sent a message on his debut, he went 6 innings with no earned runs, allowing only 5 hits. Although Kershaw is the star of the show, the Dodgers continue to have one of the best starting rotations in the game. As for Story, he became the first player in MLB history to hit a home run in the first three games of his career. He also hit his fourth home run in the first three games of his big league career, something that has not been done since 1990. In his major league debut on Monday, he smashed two homers off newbie to the Diamondbacks, Zack Grienke. He followed that with a home run against Shelby Miller on Tuesday then took it to center off Corbin. Last year’s MVPs Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays and Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals have some experience under their belt but will continue to impress.
When Chase Utley’s slide broke Ruben Tejada’s right leg last year in game 2 of the NL Division Series between the Dodgers and Mets, MLB and the players union agreed to a revision of rules regarding slides. Under the new policy a slide to break up a double play will have to include a bona fide attempt to reach and remain on the base. This new rule seemed to be the best option to protect the defensive players, but not interfering with the “neighborhood plays” and the ability to review them. This is now affecting the fielders as they were often given credit for simply being near the bag when they receive the ball during a double play, MLB Network analysts recently discussed and demonstrated just how difficult it will be for fielders to keep their foot on the base long enough to keep the out but be fast enough to jump over the runner, so that they will not endure a career ending injury. In addition a new 30 second rule has been put into play when managers call time to have a meeting on the mound, they hope this will keep the game fast and efficient and eliminate the time consuming conversations that were happening while managers waited for their bullpen pitcher to warm up.
Make sure to follow your favorite teams and players this year as they work towards October. The World Series is always on the line, but this season’s top prospects, young studs, last year’s trades, and even new managers have something to prove.
