New York. The Atlantic League will restore the pitching mound to 60 feet, six inches from home plate and return the strike zone criteria to umpires after experimenting with moving the rubber back one foot and using an automatic system.
The independent league announced the changes as part of its partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB). The sides have worked together since 2019 and the Atlantic League has agreed to test the rules and the team that could one day make it to the majors.
The automatic system for determining balls and strikes debuted in the Atlantic League during the second half of the 2019 season and has since been tested and fine-tuned in the affiliated Class A Southeast league.
The so-called “robo-umps” could still come to MLB, although a change to the system does not seem imminent. The 61 foot six inch mound ends. Neither the data nor the comments from Atlantic League players or coaches last season suggest the extra foot had an effect.
The Atlantic League will continue to use 17-inch pads; rules to avoid defensive rotation; and an extra-inning switch that puts runners on first and second to start the extra innings and then load the bases for later innings.
The league will announce other rules experiments for 2022 in the spring.
“We are honored to pioneer the future of the game with Major League Baseball,” said Rick White, president of the Atlantic League. “We are proud that many tests from today will come to MLB in the future. We will continue to closely check the evidence with MLB.”.
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