Major League Baseball wants even more offense, but are two changes currently in the testing stage really necessary?

Reports indicate that Minor League Baseball —specifically the Triple-A International League— will test another rule change this season by moving second base fully inside the infield diamond. The adjustment corrects a century-old oddity, placing the bag nearly 13 inches closer to home plate and about nine inches closer to first and third. While math wizards and analytics supporters praise the symmetry, the real goal is to boost stolen bases and offense.

But, that rationale just doesn’t hold up.

Shortening the throw to second could actually help catchers, undermining the intended effect. More importantly, this change addresses a problem that doesn’t exist. ESPN data show MLB recorded 3,440 stolen bases in 2025—slightly down from 2024’s 3,617 but still more than 40 percent above the pre-2023 average. The 2023 base enlargement, which reduced distances between bases, along with oversized sliding mitts, has already fueled a dramatic rise in steals.

The incentive to run is clearly already there. In 2024, a record 122 players stole at least 10 bases, with 48 reaching 20 or more. Similar totals followed in 2023 and 2025. Additional “incentives” are unnecessary.

The use of enlarged sliding mitts are also unnecessary and should be prohibited. Their widespread adoption is based largely on anecdotal claims of injury prevention, yet no credible data demonstrate a reduction in hand or finger injuries among head-first sliders. Moreover, MLB currently imposes no restrictions on the size, length, or design of sliding mitts. These devices can extend a runner’s reach by one to six inches and remain largely unregulated, unlike gloves and bats. This raises legitimate concerns about whether these mitts provide an unfair competitive advantage.

Can you imagine how many additional steals Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, and Maury Wills would have had with today’s distinct advantages? During Henderson’s record-setting 1982 season of 130 steals, he was caught stealing 42 times, also a record. Under today’s rules, he may have stolen 160! 

While umpires have the discretion to disallow a sliding mitt, not a single instance was reported in 2024. The use of these mitts is already trickling down to Little League.I did the public-address announcing for a Little League Regional 1 0-U All-Star tournament, and was shocked to see a kid stroll to the plate with a giant, pink mitt crammed into his back pocket. The kid kept fiddling with it between pitches, yet the umpire didn’t even flinch. So, these kids are emulating their MLB heroes in yet other ways and parents across the country are burning their hands taking food out of the oven because junior has the oven mitt stuffed into his bag!

Compounding the issue is a related proposal being tested in Double-A that would reduce the number of pitcher disengagements per plate appearance from two to one. Once that attempt is used, the runner gains a clear advantage. Any additional throw that does not pick off the runner results in a balk. This change makes a bad rule even worse. It is unnecessary and counterproductive, encouraging excessively large leads, limiting pitchers’ options, and further disrupting timing and pitch selection. Rather than adding restrictions, MLB should eliminate the disengagement limit entirely. The disengagement rule was intended to assist in shortening games, a goal already achieved by the pitch clock. Under the current framework, base runners already hold a substantial advantage.

Major League Baseball should stop pursuing extreme ideas that erode credibility. Instead, the Rules Committee (six management reps, four players, and one umpire) should be looking at ways to preserve the game’s integrity. And is anyone going to start looking at one of the biggest challenges the game faces? Increasingly, it’s becoming unaffordable. Clock-watching,  measuring tapes, and oven mitts won’t help with that.