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All players scheduled to attend the Phillies’ major league camp in spring training next week – from Bryce Harper and Trea Turner to off-roster invitees – will receive homework.
Rob Thomson expects it to be completed when it arrives in Clearwater, Florida.
This season, Major League Baseball introduces new rules that fundamentally change not only how the game looks, but how it is played. To ease the adjustment process, the Phillies manager wants his players to study before they even set foot on the field. So Thomson and his coaching staff created a bullet point sheet outlining all the changes.
» Read more: What shortstop aging curve means for Phillies’ 11-year deal with Trea Turner
“Just list the rules and key points so they can start thinking about it, start preparing, and then start running with the pitch clock and stuff like that in the bullpen. [batting practices]’” Thomson said Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park. “There are a lot of experienced people I’ve never heard of before, so I need to get them used to it.”
Of all the new rules, the pitch timer is what’s waking Thomson. A pitcher is allotted 15 seconds for him during pitches without on-base players and 20 seconds for pitches with runners. Meanwhile, the batter must be in the batter’s box with at least 8 seconds remaining, and he is given one timeout for each at-bat.
Thomson expects some players to take time to adapt. This is because old habits (pitters pitching slowly, batters going out of the box) can be difficult to break. The Phillies plan to use a buzzer clock during bullpen sessions and batting practice to help players time their timing.
But there are pitfalls. Many players will leave spring training in his March to play in his Classics, World Baseball, which does not use the new rules. Turner, JT Realmut and Kyle Schwarber will play for Team USA. Relief Seranthony Dominguez and Gregory Soto (Dominican Republic), backup his catcher Garrett Stubbs (Israel), and right-hander Tai Juan Walker (Mexico) are also likely to be on the field.
“It’s a challenge,” said Thomson. “Those leaving early, we’ll try to hit them with a hammer [the new rules] Please leave as soon as possible. ”
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Thomson shared some other thoughts.
1. Harper is on schedule to recover from Tommy John’s elbow surgery. He is expected to begin stepping up his baseball efforts “towards the end of March,” with the Phillies hoping to have him back by the All-Star break. I came.
2. Despite the addition of active save leader Craig Kimbrel, Thomson said he would not name a closer “unless someone steps up and completely dominates.” Thomson prefers to stay with “floating his closers”, combining Kimbrel, Dominguez, left-handed Soto and Jose his Alvarado in the ninth combination he has.
3. Thomson is thrilled to have Walker join him in the middle of the rotation.[-finger fastball]he’s really athletic and really competitive,” said Thomson. Walker signed a four-year, $72 million contract last month.
4. While the Phillies have been keeping an eye on starters after a long playoff run and figuring out a safe workload for 19-year-old frontrunner Andrew Painter, Thomson has had six at various points in the season. He said there was a high possibility of developing a rotation of
» Read more: Andrew Painter, Phillies’ No. 5 starter in 2023? It can happen. Look at Rick Porcello.
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