David Ortiz on New Pace of Play Changes: ‘That’s Bull

Major League Baseball is tweaking the rules to speed up the game and David Ortiz is not a fan. Here's his expletive filled rant from Boston.com.

In a nutshell, MLB's popularity is plummeting because the games take too long. The sometimes 4-hour events in a society of information bouncing off peoples cellphones and faces at light speed just aren't exciting enough. People aren't paying attention anymore, thus the pace of play rule changes in 2015.

There are 10 rule changes taking effect in 2015 that MLB will hope improve the pace of play as well as the replay system. The one Ortiz is concerned about is a rule that will enforce the batters box rule, requiring that all batters must keep at least one foot in the batter's box unless one of a group of exceptions occur.

David Ortiz, like so many MLB players, take anywhere from 20-25 seconds in between pitches. They call it a routine, but I call it helmet adjusting, glove strap on and off, toe tapping, bat twirling nonsense.

Step up to the plate and hit the ball (over the fence preferably)!

I think MLB is on the right track here with their changes. They need to focus more on the pitchers though. Ortiz has 3, maybe 4 plate appearances, meanwhile a pitcher is throwing 110 pitches during the game. The pace of play is affected more by a pitcher.

If the batter can't leave the box, the pitcher shouldn't leave the mound.