Major League Baseball released a memo regarding a change to the pitch timer rules implemented before the start of the season following the Red Sox-Cardinals game on May 13 when Boston closer Kenley Jansen was assessed two quick-pitch violations. Jansen was called for the infractions while St. Louis designated hitter Willson Contreras circumvented the rule by leaving one foot outside the batters’ box.
Jansen noted his displeasure following the game that Contreras confused him and threw his game off, resulting in the Red Sox closer blowing the save.
After the release of the memo on Wednesday night, Jansen told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier he appreciated the change.
“I’ve got to give MLB props for continuing to try to make the game better,” Jansen told Speier. “Nobody wants the rules in a high-leverage situation to cost a game. No excuses. It kind of flustered me a little bit, which I shouldn’t have let happen.”
This was a swift change given it was less than a week between the Jansen-Contreras incident and the memo being sent. This slight change should even the playing field again for pitchers and batters.
“It sucks, but sometimes stuff like this has to happen,” Jansen said. “I’m glad it happened with me because I could deal with it, move forward, and the game can be better.”
According to the memo, going forward any batter that appears to be attempting to circumvent the rules will result in a warning and then assessed an automatic strike on any subsequent violations.
