The SEC tournament is going to feature the top teams in the nation battling it out for seeding — and a few at-large berths — in the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament. It's also going to feature some unique bases.
Fans will notice throughout the week-long series that there is an extended first base in the infield at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Ala.
Major League Baseball has made the change of instituting larger bases in the big leagues starting in 2023, but this base at first is going to look considerably different, as it will be rectangular in shape and appear to be two bases attached to one another.
Here's what you need to know about the new bases.
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Why are there two bases at first in the SEC baseball tournament?
The SEC baseball tournament will feature larger, rectangular bases that are known as a "double first base," the conference announced.
The bases, deployed on "an experimental basis," are designed to promote player safety by providing a second side for which baserunners can run and a side for which first basemen can place their back foot.
The base is not just a large, white rectangle, however. The reason it is called a double base is because there are two bases, one white and another either orange or green. The middle of the base will be placed exactly on the first-base line, meaning anything over the white base will be fair territory and anything over the colored base is foul.
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A double base will help avoid injuries with one side being reserved for the first basemen and the other for baserunners. Runners will have to cross the colored base during most at-bats — with the exception of a dropped third strike or extra-base hit — while fielders must have their feet on the white part of the base.
Per the rules, players who get an extra-base hit or a hit into the outfield where there is no play at first can touch either side of the base. However, when returning to first, they can only touch the white portion of the base. On dropped third strikes, the fielder and batter can go for either side of the base.
If a batter touches only the white part of the base and the defense appeals before the runner returns to the base after running through it, it will be treated the same as missing the base entirely and the batter will be ruled out.
There have been a number of notable injuries that have taken place at first base when a fielder and a baserunner collide or step on one another's foot as both vie for the base. Among the most notable came in 2013, when Braves pitcher Tim Hudson stepped on the front side of first base and had his right leg stepped on by Mets baserunner Eric Young Jr. The result was a season-ending ankle fracture that ended his season in April.
NCAA base rules
As of now, the NCAA baseball tournament plans to keep first base as normal.
Though the SEC tournament is allowed to experiment with the double base, there has been no indication the NCAA will do that when all the teams come together on the road to the College World Series.
