Slightly deadened!’ How MLB is changing, for better or worse

• Quicker pitching.

Here’s new info, new to me at least: A big reason pitchers take so long between pitches is that word has spread through the pitchers’ frat house that taking a longer time between pitches gives you more time to recover, thus increased velocity (or “velo”) and higher innings counts.

A Sports Illustrated story by Tom Verducci presents many illuminating stats, including this: The number of pitchers who take 25 seconds or more between pitches increased from 4% of pitchers in 2009 to 43% in 2020.

You can see where this trend is going. Pitchers aren’t going to voluntarily shorten their mini recuperation breaks. Baseball has to get tough, enforce the pitch clock. The 24-second clock didn’t kill basketball.

You pitchers want to cry on someone’s shoulder, go find Sandy Koufax or Dave Stewart.

• When in doubt, blame the A’s.

The steroid era shifted offensive emphasis to the long ball, and the A’s more than participated in that party.

Analytics has changed the game dramatically, maybe not all for the best, and the Moneyball A’s were leaders in that field, although the development of statistical science in all sports is a tsunami nobody was going to stop.

The Giants? Oh, yeah, they also played a big part in the homer craze. Guy named Bonds?

Hey, a lot of revolutionary ideas spring from the minds of Bay Area geniuses, and not all the ideas are good ones.

• Bigger bases, happier faces.

Baseball will experiment in some minor leagues with bases that are 3 inches wider and longer. So a runner going home to first will reach the bag 1½ inches sooner. A runner going from first to second gets a full 3-inch boost.

Bigger bases: Won’t that make the infielders and baserunners look smaller?

That’s some seriously weird tinkering by baseball. Why not just have guys go to bat wearing shoes with extended toes, 4 or 5 inches longer, like clown shoes?

Reminds me of the late Henny Youngman’s comment after watching his first ballet: “Why don’t they just get taller girls?”

• Deader balls won’t clear walls (as often).

Major League Baseball announced it will “slightly deaden” the balls this season, enough to take a couple feet off deep drives. Maybe promote more hitting, less clouting.

This comes after decades of commissioners insisting MLB has no control over the juiciness of the ball. MLB was always like the hot-dog vendor telling his customer, “Buddy, I have no idea what goes into these tube steaks, I just sell ’em. You want to ask questions, go on ‘Jeopardy!,’ OK?”

Suddenly Rob Manfred and his crew are micro-controlling the flight of the balls? Did they just find out where the ball factory is and phone the juicemaster?

In the 2015 season, total homers jumped from 4,186 to 4,909, and the total in 2019 was 6,776, and MLB officials shrugged and said they had no idea what was going on.

Now they’re microtweaking the ball like it’s the intake manifold of a moon rocket.

How about getting one ball you like and sticking with it?

At least MLB has a swell new motto for the 2021 season: “Baseball: Slightly deadened!”

• Out to launch.

The whole launch angle craze is here to stay. Giants’ outfielder Mauricio Dubón packed on about 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, reworked his swing, and proclaimed, “I’m trying to elevate and celebrate.”

Sounds like a cool tattoo.