{"id":9099,"date":"2016-02-26T09:03:15","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T17:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/baseball-bans-rolling-block-slides-in-wake-of-utley-play\/"},"modified":"2016-02-26T09:03:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T17:03:15","slug":"baseball-bans-rolling-block-slides-in-wake-of-utley-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/baseball-bans-rolling-block-slides-in-wake-of-utley-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball bans rolling block slides in wake of Utley play"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014<\/strong> Baseball made its call on the Chase Utley slide: out.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball and the players\u2019 union have banned rolling blocks to break up potential double plays, hoping to prevent a repeat of the takeout by Utley that broke the leg of New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada during last year\u2019s playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my understanding, we\u2019ve been trying to work on this for a few years now,\u201d Utley said at the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 camp, \u201cso I don\u2019t think one instance determined everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe, but fans may see it another way \u2014 the Chase Utley Rule.<\/p>\n

Under the change announced Thursday, a runner must attempt a \u201cbona fide slide,\u201d defined as making contact with the ground ahead of the base, being in position to and trying to reach the base with a hand or foot, trying to remain on the base after the slide, and sliding within reach of the base without changing his path to initiate contact with a fielder.<\/p>\n

An umpire can call both the runner and batter out for a violation. Baserunners may not elevate or kick a leg above the fielder\u2019s knee or throw his arm or upper body.<\/p>\n

A runner who makes a permissible slide cannot be charged with interference, even if he makes contact with a fielder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine there will be a little bit of an adjustment for the middle infielders, but also the baserunners,\u201d Utley said.<\/p>\n

Tejada missed the World Series due to the injury sustained at Dodger Stadium in the NL Division Series. Utley was suspended for two games, a penalty still under appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid Chase catch him good? Yeah. Could Tejada have maybe done a couple things to get out of the way?,\u201d said Philadelphia infielder-outfielder Cody Asche, a former Utley teammate.<\/p>\n

Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus looked at Utley\u2019s slide and the rule change from two perspectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have any problem with that, even if looked a little dirty,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that situation, I\u2019d probably be doing the same, trying to break the double play.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then he added: \u201cAs a fielder, that\u2019s awesome. Nobody\u2019s going to get you if you\u2019re out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In mid-September, Pittsburgh rookie shortstop Jung Ho Kang\u2019s season ended when his left leg was broken and a knee ligament was torn during a takeout slide by the Chicago Cubs\u2019 Chris Coghlan, who was traded to Oakland on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose incidents put more public attention on the issue and allowed us to focus on it this offseason, but we had been discussing this topic for several years,\u201d MLB Senior Vice President Chris Marinak said. \u201cI think there were a confluence of factors that came together this offseason that led to us make the change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going forward, takeout slides and neighborhood plays \u2014 where a middle infielder fails to touch second base \u2014 will be subject to video review. In the past, the neighborhood play wasn\u2019t covered by instant replay.<\/p>\n

\u201cA shortstop will drag his right foot across the back corner of the base. I don\u2019t think that will ever change,\u201d said Colorado manager Walt Weiss, a former All-Star shortstop. \u201cThe second baseman, I think, is more affected by this rule, because sometimes they leave the base before the ball gets there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball and the union also agreed to limit mound visits by managers and pitching coaches to 30 seconds and to cut the countdown clock for between-innings breaks by 20 seconds, to 2:05 for most games and 2:25 for nationally televised matchups.<\/p>\n

\u2022 AP Sports Writers Stephen Hawkins and Stephen Whyno and AP freelance writers Mike Cranston and Norm Frauenheim contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Baseball made its call on the Chase Utley slide: out. Major League Baseball and the players\u2019 union have banned rolling blocks to break up potential double plays, hoping to prevent a repeat of the takeout by Utley that broke the leg of New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada during last year\u2019s playoffs. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9099"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}