How Does the MLB Solve Leaning Into Pitches?

Cameron Young- News Editor

Controversy has sparked in light of the first couple weeks of the MLB season. Umpires everywhere are under scrutiny for not calling players who are accusedly leaning into pitches on purpose to get a free base. This is a rule that exists and those fans and players who have fallen victims of no-calls are questioning the umpires. It truly started when New York Met Michael Conforto leaned his elbow into a pitch that was arguably a strike to win a game against the Miami Marlins. As the pitch occurred, the Umpire originally signaled to strike out Conferto, but after he realized contact had occurred between the elbow and the pitch, it was then decided that Conforto would advance to first, thus forcing in the game-winning run from third base.

For those unaware, the rule exists that if it is deemed the hitter makes no effort to get out of the way of a pitch, or even lean into a pitch, the umpire has the power to automatically call them out, no matter what the count is. But, as baseball has evolutionized and gear has been upgraded, there are many guards that exist for hitters such as elbow, knee, ankle, and face protectors. Naturally, with lines of defense like this, hitters will have less instinctual urgency to get out of the way of these screaming fastballs. It is undeniable that the judgement of occurrences like this have been inconsistent, and it is argued that things like this should eventually be up for review.

But this latest call was so obvious that it seems that even the mets believe that the call should have been reversed and it should have been an out. Hopefully, the light brought to the problem of umpiring this issue in baseball will have a long term effect to the point where a game will never be won in such a fashion again.