New rule in baseball.

[scorekeeper]

I have a new hero in MLB. Joey Votto. I’d never seen him bat more than a few times, but the last couple days I’ve seen him in 2 games, and its led me to believe that if that’s the way he acts in all or even most of his at bats, every organization that makes baseball rules needs to put the Joey Votto rule into their rule book.

Get ready before stepping into the batter’s box, but once there, don’t step out, even to re-strap the batting gloves. What a pleasure to watch a player like that, even to the point where I found myself rooting for him against my team! And what helped was the pitchers seemed to respond by not farting around themselves. Get the ball, get the sign, pitch the ball. Sure makes it a much better game to watch.

[JCincy]

I wonder, even at the MLB level, if it might be intimidating to have a batter simply dig in and wait for his pitch.

I prefer Votto's approach over Sean Casey's. He adjusted everything between every pitch.

If the Reds still had Hamilton... oh my...

[jdfromfla]

How funny that it was Casey showing the difference between he and Mr. Votto yesterday on the MLB channel, the difference between Joey and Nomo was hilarious too....Messed up Derrick Lowe for sure...
I agree with Score..get in there and hit...great strategy by Votto..if just the sequence they showed with Lowe is an indicator and my bet is that it will soon be emulated heavily.

[tg643]

Then there was Diego Sequi who an announcer once called a human rain delay in the mound. The 20 second rule was referred to as the Segui rule.

[CircleChange11]

How funny that it was Casey showing the difference between he and Mr. Votto yesterday on the MLB channel, the difference between Joey and Nomo was hilarious too....Messed up Derrick Lowe for sure...
I agree with Score..get in there and hit...great strategy by Votto..if just the sequence they showed with Lowe is an indicator and my bet is that it will soon be emulated heavily.

Nomar Garciaparra was just ridiculous.

[Stampede]

Nomar Garciaparra was just ridiculous.

Yep, Nomar and the batting gloves was priceless.

[Kan-Man]

Then there was Diego Sequi who an announcer once called a human rain delay in the mound. The 20 second rule was referred to as the Segui rule.

Wasn't Mike Hargrove the original "human rain delay" or am I showing my age too much?

[Bulldog19]

I have a new hero in MLB. Joey Votto. I’d never seen him bat more than a few times, but the last couple days I’ve seen him in 2 games, and its led me to believe that if that’s the way he acts in all or even most of his at bats, every organization that makes baseball rules needs to put the Joey Votto rule into their rule book.

No need for a new rule. Just enforce the one already present. A batter is supposed to keep one foot in the box at all times except on a wild pitch or a foul ball. Otherwise, they are supposed to keep one foot in. VERY few umpires enforce it.

[tg643]

Wasn't Mike Hargrove the original "human rain delay" or am I showing my age too much?

Diego Segui predates Mike Hargrove. He's the father of David Segui.

[brandtb1]

Another amazing stat about Votto is that he has only pulled one foul ball in the seats in his career and hit only three infield pop outs in his career. I am not a Reds fan, but it is fun to watch him hit.

[ipitch]

Another amazing stat about Votto is that he has only pulled one foul ball in the seats in his career and hit only three infield pop outs in his career. I am not a Reds fan, but it is fun to watch him hit.

He's got a way to go if he wants to catch Wade Boggs.

From a 1993 NY Times article:
Boggs "has hit only one foul fly ball down the right-field line in 6,486 career at-bats"

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/30/sports/baseball-boggs-s-first-yankee-home-run-is-one-to-remember.html

I believe it, even if it's only going by Boggs' memory.

[scorekeeper]

Wasn't Mike Hargrove the original "human rain delay" or am I showing my age too much?

I remember when the Indians got Grover, and I was thinking we finally had someone with a glove at 1st, who know how to hit. Well, he was an excellent addition in the field, and he certainly could hit, but he made watching the games painful, and was probably one of the worst influences there could have been, because kids all over the country emulated him. I know its terrible, but I used to hope opposing pitchers would drill him rather than have to watch him bat.

[scorekeeper]

No need for a new rule. Just enforce the one already present. A batter is supposed to keep one foot in the box at all times except on a wild pitch or a foul ball. Otherwise, they are supposed to keep one foot in. VERY few umpires enforce it.

The ONE already present? Which one is that? I know there’s a rule in OBR for all National Association Leagues, but that’s not the Major Leagues.

But its really immaterial because the umpires could certainly speed things up if they should so choose, and MLB gives them its blessing. A lot of people believe the umpires just grab the rule book and enforce it, but they don’t realize every single thing the umpires do is scrutinized very closely by MLB, including telling the umpires how they want that book interpreted. After all, they own the rule book, and they pay the umpires.

[Kan-Man]

Diego Segui predates Mike Hargrove. He's the father of David Segui.

You wrote Diego, I read David. My mistake.

[Kan-Man]

I remember when the Indians got Grover, and I was thinking we finally had someone with a glove at 1st, who know how to hit. Well, he was an excellent addition in the field, and he certainly could hit, but he made watching the games painful, and was probably one of the worst influences there could have been, because kids all over the country emulated him. I know its terrible, but I used to hope opposing pitchers would drill him rather than have to watch him bat.

When David Wright came up to the majors, he had a pretty complicated pre-pitch routine. He'd tuck the bat under one arm, adjust both batting gloves, then wipe his nose and mouth with the top of his jersey. I notice he doesn't do it as much anymore, if at all, which makes me wonder if he ever needed to do it in the first place.