MLB Reportedly to Experiment with More Rules Changes in the Minor Leagues This Season, Some Significant ...Middle East

FanGraphs today reports exclusively that Major League Baseball is once again embarking on a series of experimental rules changes throughout the minor leagues in 2026, and some of them are pretty darn significant.

Among the changes coming to the minor leagues, where they will presumably be evaluated for possible future deployment in MLB, roughly in the order importance (in my gut anyway):

The one that seems the biggest to me, which is coming to the International League (the Triple-A level where the Iowa Cubs play) in the second half, has second base moving in closer. The effect is that the distance from first to second, and from second to third, will shrink by about nine inches. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but consider how close most plays are on steals at second base. Or at third base. Now add an extra nine inches each time for the runner. And that’s to say nothing of double plays, or runners going first to third, or scoring from first. I think this is potentially a transformative change, and probably more significant than people will realize at first. The long-sought check swing challenge is coming to the Pacific Coast League at Triple-A, based on the 45-degree rule that had been tested in the Arizona Fall League: “A swing will be considered to have occurred if the maximum angle between the bat head and the bat handle exceeds 45 degrees.” That starts May 5, and it can be challenged just like balls and strikes. (In the International League, the check swing challenge won’t be available, HOWEVER, umpires will be instructed to start calling swings based on that 45-degree rule. Finally, a real rule for check swings!) In High-A and Low-A, there are significant batter timeout changes. At the former, the batter can request a timeout only when there are runners on base. In the latter, the batter can’t request a timeout at all. If there are special circumstances, in the umpire’s discretion, then yes. A timeout for a legit injury, or for a guy who gets brushed back, for example. But otherwise, that standard batter timeout we’ve come to expect? It’d be more or less going away at the lower levels. That’s a really, really major change, which is why the harshest version is starting out at Low-A. Pitcher disengagements shrinking from 2 to 1 at Double-A. In other words, you get one step off or one throw over, and that’s it. After that, if you disengage or throw over, the runner has to be out, or he gets second base for free. We’ve seen it at the big league level – when the runner knows the pitcher is out of disengagements, his lead expands dramatically. And if the pitcher has only one throw over to work with in the first place? Could be yet another huge boost to the running game. I hope the Cubs start drafting/signing more speed guys ASAP. Dealing with a PitchCom issue? That counts as a mound visit now at Triple-A if it involves a stoppage of play. And if you have no mound visits left, it’s a pitch clock violation. No more gamesmanship with the PitchCom, and, although it doesn’t happen a lot, it clearly happens enough that this is a rule change I hope gets to MLB sooner rather than later. Better have your back-up hand signs ready. In the Complex Leagues and Dominican Summer League, starting pitchers will now be permitted to re-enter a game (once) if they get pulled in an inning after throwing at least 25 pitches. I put this one last not because it’s a bad change – it’s a very smart, simple way to protect pitcher health – but instead because I can’t see it working its way up to MLB any time soon, or probably ever.

There’s a whole lot more to digest in the FanGraphs piece, and if you’re a rules hound or a minor league baseball enjoyer, I strongly suggest you read and familiarize yourself with these rules changes. History shows that, although MLB experiments up and down the minors, the rules changes that reach the upper minors generally do eventually come to MLB.

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