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By Hunter Mulholland
Contributing Sports Writer
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Unnamed former MLB players are reaching out to league offices and union executives in an attempt to implement a clause in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement to reduce the number of position players pitching in blowouts, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported.
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In 2023, Major League Baseball implemented a new rule governing position players pitching to reduce the frequency of the event. Position players were only allowed to pitch if one of the three following circumstances were met: the game is in extra innings, the team is trailing by at least eight runs at any point, team is winning by at least 10 runs in the ninth inning.
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These rules are still intact today, but former MLB players want a new rule to be in place to limit the occurrence even more.
"It's ruining the game and making a farce of statistics," one former All-Star player said, according to Nightengale in his column Sunday, "and you just wait until one of these guys gets hurt. It's time they stopped making a mockery of the game."
Position players pitching is as much of a decision to save pitching for the next day than to roll out six different bullpen arms in one game and have a depleted bullpen for the coming days.
Nevertheless, this will likely be a topic of conversation as the new collective bargaining agreement approaches after next year. Many players and some fans look down upon using position players in a blowout, but when a game is out of reach in the later innings, teams have to begin to prepare for the next day and consider their pitchers' health as well.
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