I understand MLB rules limit the number of visits a field manager can make to the pitching mound. I believe it is two per inning. And, I think on the third visit, the manager must pull the pitcher from the game. However, the pitching coach can make unlimited visits. (Feel free to correct me.) Anyway, why is there such a rule? It’s just a shell game so that the pitching coach can do the manager’s bidding, as they say. Why limit the manager? Also, do MLB rules apply to the minor league teams that belong to a major league team’s farm system, or does each “class” (i.e., AAA, AA, or A) have its own rules of the game?
Last, we were at a minor league game where the entire infield could congregate on the mound while the pitching coach or manager spoke to the pitcher. What’s up with that? I know opposing teams have stolen strategies by reading lips, so players will talk with their gloves over their mouths, but congregating? Really? Did they all have to put in their two cents on the pitcher’s performance? I know the catcher may, but seriously? What’s the SD on this?
I don’t think the OP is right. They count the pitching coach and the manager visits the same. In most MLB games the pitching coach comes out to advise, and then the manager appears to pull the pitcher (there is some variation on this theme). I always thought the limit was one visit prior to having to pull the pitcher. Not completely sure about that.
OP: It’s two and the pitcher is pulled on the second one. Also it doesn’t matter if it is the manager or pitching coach. In fact if the coach goes to a player and that player goes to the mound it is a visit. So your whole question is moot.
And just for reference it is Rule 8.06. It actually the comments section that addresses a coach going to a player and the player going to the mound but interestingly by a strict reading of the rules a coach could go to an outfielder (and maybe a bench player) and have that player go to the mound and it would not count as a visit.
Anyone know the history on this? I assume it’s to keep games from taking forever from coaching the pitcher after every pitch. But maybe no coaching was allowed at all to start with and the one visit was added, and then the second one to pull the pitcher after some incident where a pitcher didn’t react well when motioned from the pen.
Saint Cad’s right. Quoting:
[Quote=MLB Official Rules, pp 54-55]
(l) (8.06) Visits to the Mound
A professional league shall adopt the following rule pertaining to the visit of the manager or coach to the pitcher:
[ol]
[li]This rule limits the number of trips a manager or coach may make to any one pitcher in any one inning;[/li][li]A second trip to the same pitcher in the same inning will cause this pitcher’s automatic removal from the game;[/li][li]The manager or coach is prohibited from making a second visit to the mound while the same batter is at bat, but[/li][li]if a pinch-hitter is substituted for this batter, the manager or coach may make a second visit to the mound, but must remove the pitcher from the game.[/li][/ol]
A manager or coach is considered to have concluded his visit to the mound when he leaves the 18-foot circle surrounding the pitcher’s rubber.
I believe that a coach/manager can make a visit to the mound if there’s an injury concern and not be charged with one of the two trips, but the umpires monitor the visit and make sure that the conversation doesn’t go beyond discussing a potential injury. But yes, aside from that, on the second trip to the mound in an inning, that pitcher has to be removed from the game.
At a glance I can’t find it anywhere in the rules. I have seen several games where the manager came out to the mound with a trainer to take a look at a pitcher after he got hit by a line drive, the umpire comes out to the mound, and after the visit he makes a motion to the opposing dugout that suggests that they aren’t counting it as a mound “visit”. And that’s always the way the guys in the broadcast booth describe it. And those guys are never wrong about anything, are they?
I thought zoog was right, so I searched the official rules as well. I also didn’t find anything there, but I did find this on the MLB site via Google:
“At the discretion of the umpire, a manager or coach may be permitted to visit a pitcher to check on a potential injury without the trip being counted as an official mound visit.”
I think the unofficial rule here is that the manager has to signify that he’s going out for an injury concern.
If it’s not an obvious injury (pitcher limping, holding his elbow, etc), I think that the manager has to inform the umpire. I know that, for instance, a double-switch only counts if the manager informs the umpire before the substitutions, so the ump’s lineup card is accurate.
No cite for this. Anything I got right, credit Steve Stone. What I got wrong, blame Nyquil.
Interesting note about that 18-foot circle … the umpires take that seriously.
There have been instances in the past where a coach or manager went out to talk to the pitcher for their first visit. After leaving the mound and the 18-foot circle, the manager realized they forgot something, stopped, and went back to the mound. Guess what? That’s now your second visit and you have to remove the pitcher.
It’s the umpire’s discretion to apply the visit rule or not. If the manager makes it obvious to the ump, who is monitoring the visit, that it is a health check, they won’t. There’s no reason to.
No, you can’t make a second mound visit (injuries aside) until the batter currently up is either on or out, or pulled for a pinch-hitter. In the event that the coach or manager leaves the circle and then tries to go back before reaching the dugout, the umpire should prevent him from doing so as it’s against the rules. See #3 in **gnoitall’s **cite.
Question I have is why does the manager have to go out to the mound to replace the pitcher. Why not let him just signal for a new guy if he’s already made up his mind and doesn’t have anything to discuss anyway? The way it is, it just slows down the game for no reason.
Note my previous question. I really do think it’s to speed the game along by avoiding pitchers refusing to leave or throwing a hissy fit. I suppose they could send a catcher out with a bat instead.
All the other major sports have coaches make player substitutions from the sidelines. Doesn’t seem to be a problem there. (True, those other sports allow removed players to re-enter later; nonetheless, I think standard player discipline should suffice in baseball as well.)
Because sometimes after talking to the pitcher the manager decides not to take him out of the game. Granted, there’s no reason why that has to be like that, but it’s tradition.
The problem with “tradition” in regards to this is that the game has evolved a lot over the years, and there are a lot more pitching changes per game than there used to be. So the delay in having the manager come out of the dugout each time is a much bigger time-waster than it traditionally was.
