MLB sets limit on mound visits to speed up games.

MLB Limits Visits to the Mound to Speed Up Game Pace

Major League Baseball has limited the number of visits to the mound in an effort to accelerate the pace of the game, although it has ruled out restricting the time between pitches to 20 seconds for 2018.

After more than a year of negotiations, the players' union refused to accept the changes, but signed an agreement ensuring that they will not oppose the new rules.

The rule changes announced on Monday include a total limit of six visits to the mound in a nine-inning game without a pitching change, whether by the manager, coaches or other players.

In order to address player concerns about sign stealing, Major League Baseball will install new phone lines from the dugouts to the video review rooms. The league indicated that the lines will be monitored, and a person familiar with the decision said to The Associated Press that all conversations through those lines will be recorded. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been announced.

Major League Baseball has the ability to make changes to the rules of the game without an agreement with a one-year advance notice, and had proposed the limited mound visits and pitch clock before the 2016-17 season.

"I'm pleased that we were able to reach an agreement with the players' union," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "My top preference is to continue dialogue with players regarding this issue to find mutually acceptable solutions."

The president of the players' union, Tony Clark, noted, however, that both parties technically did not reach an agreement.

"Focusing on mound visits and/or the level of engagement on other issues simply did not lend itself to the level of attention on the areas that players wanted to address - so no agreement was reached," he said in an email to AP.

"While a number of pitchers will acknowledge that some mound visits are unnecessary, a combined limit coupled with what is happening recently with sign stealing, enhanced by the use of technology, raises concerns about how well this will work... or if it will work," Clark added.

Until now, the only restriction on mound visits was a second visit to the same pitcher during an inning by a manager or coach, which resulted in an automatic pitcher change. The number of visits by catchers during games has increased in recent years, contributing to the average time of a nine-inning game growing to a record of three hours and five minutes last season, compared to the 2:46 hours of play averaged in 2005.

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