Overview
- Owners voted at their Florida meetings to require first- and third-base coaches to stay in the box until a pitch is thrown.
- Umpires will police positioning while the pitcher is on the rubber, issuing a warning for a first violation and ejecting repeat offenders.
- MLB says tighter enforcement addresses coaches moving along the line to read pitchers’ grips, a trend that grew in recent seasons.
- Coaches’ boxes will be drawn with three sides so coaches can stand farther from the field for safety while remaining within the marked lines.
- MLB also issued baserunner guidance instructing umpires to call a runner out for initiating contact to draw obstruction and to return other runners to the last base touched.