Report: MLB Looking to Boost Offense by Raising the Strike Zone
Major League Baseball isn’t happy that scoring is down in the post-steroid-era, and may be looking into changing the strike zone as a means to increase offensive production and put more fans in the stands.
Citing unnamed league sources, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reports that MLB is considering altering the strike zone. The “low strike’’ is the scapegoat for declining run production in baseball, and raising the strike zone would make the ball easier to hit hard. Passan reports the strike zone will be closely monitored in 2015 and could see legislative changes as soon as 2016.
The problem with more offense is that the games take longer to play. As Passan points out, new commissioner Rob Manfred is trying to speed up the game, so altering the strike zone could be counterproductive.
The Red Sox are making more traditional changes to increase offense. After scoring 3.91 runs per game in 2014 (the second worst rate in the American League), the Sox added Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval in the offseason and should feature one of the league’s most improved lineups.
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