Passan: MLB could alter strike zone as response to declining offense
From Jeff Passan at Yahoo! Sports on February 12, 2015, with mention of SABR member Jon Roegele:
Major League Baseball is considering altering the textbook definition of the strike zone for the first time in nearly two decades, fearful that the proliferation of the low strike has sapped too much offense from the game, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Concern around baseball about the strike zone filtered down to the MLB’s Playing Rules Committee, which must formally adopt a rules change before it’s implemented. The committee will pay close attention to the size of the strike zone in 2015 with an eye on change as early as 2016 after studies showed it has expanded significantly since 2009, coinciding with a precipitous dip in run scoring. Of particular concern, sources said, is the low strike, a scourge not only because it has stretched beyond the zone’s boundaries but is considered a significantly more difficult pitch to hit.
Runs per game fell to 4.07 in 2014, the lowest mark since 1981 and the 13th fewest since World War II, and studies from The Hardball Times’ Jon Roegele and Florida professor Brian Mills pegged the low strike as a significant culprit.
Read the full article here: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources–mlb-could-alter-strike-zone-as-response-to-declining-offense-232940947.html
Originally published: February 13, 2015. Last Updated: February 13, 2015.