David Ortiz Not a Fan of MLB's New Pace of Play Rules - East Idaho News
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David Ortiz Not a Fan of MLB’s New Pace of Play Rules

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11 5 12%20Ortiz%20A?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1424962180784G. Fiume/Getty Images(FORT MYERS, Fla.) — Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz isn’t happy about the new pace of play rules that the MLB has instituted for this year.

The rule states that a batter must keep one foot in the box at all times with some exceptions.

“It seems like every rule goes in the pitcher’s favor. After a pitch, you got to stay in the box? One foot? I call that bulls**t,” Ortiz said Wednesday.  

“When you come out of the box, they don’t understand you’re thinking about what the [pitcher] is trying to do,” he continued. “This is not like, you go to the plate with an empty mind. No, no, no. When you see a guy, after a pitch, coming out of the box, he’s not just doing it. Our minds are speeding up.”

“I saw one pitch, I come out, I’m thinking, ‘What is this guy going to try to do to me next?’ I’m not walking around just because there are cameras all over the place and I want my buddies back home to see me and this and that. It doesn’t go that way,” Ortiz added. “When you force a hitter to do that, 70 percent you’re out, because you don’t have time to think. And the only time you have to think about things is that time. So, I don’t know how this baseball game is going to end up.”

Red Sox chairman Tom Werner was a member of the committee charged with improving the pace of play, but Ortiz said that he was never asked about what he thought of the new rule.

“It doesn’t matter what they do, the game is not going to speed up,” Ortiz said. “That’s the bottom line. When you argue for a pitch and they got to review it, that takes some time. Is that our fault? No. It’s their fault. But we still got to play the game.”


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