Major League Baseball announced Thursday updates and clarifications related to its rules governing slides into second base in an effort to cut down on major injuries.
Under the amended rules, a baserunner's slide will be considered legal if: He slides before reaching the base; he is able to and attempts to reach or touch the base; he is able to and attempts to stay on the base; and he does not change his pathway to the base.
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Runners who follow those four guidelines are allowed to take out the fielder legally in an effort to break up a double play, according to the rule. If an umpire rules a slide is illegal, he can call both the runner and the batter out as a result of the interference.
MLB also announced that the so-called "neighborhood play" — in which an infielder doesn't actually touch the bag for an out in an effort to avoid an oncoming runner — will now be reviewable by replay.
A broken leg suffered by Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada in the playoffs and a season-ending knee injury sustained by Pirates second baseman Jung Ho Kang in 2015 led MLB and the players' association to rethink the slide rules.
According to Yahoo Sports, in an effort to keep the new interpretation from becoming as complicated to judge as the new home-plate collision rule instituted last season, MLB, the union and umpires watched videos of about 20 plays at second base with questionable slides and formed a consensus on which were legal and which weren’t.
The biggest impact beyond limiting injuries, Yahoo noted, is that the rule implicitly encourages fielders to stand on the back of the base, which could affect the route some second basemen take to the bag while trying to turn a double play.
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In addition to the new slide interpretation, MLB also announced that it will institute a 30-second time limit on visits to the mound this season.
The time will be tracked from the time a pitching coach or manager steps out of the dugout, and there will be no penalty for going past the limit. Umpires instead will urge coaches and managers to stay within the limit by avoiding the slow walks to the mound that have been a tactic for allowing a reliever a few more throws in the bullpen.
The mound-visit time limit won't apply to infielders or the catcher visiting the pitcher.
