One we think will better match the human zone people are expecting.

Morgan Sword

It’s a direct response to the escalating strikeout rate, where you’re giving the hitter approximately one one-hundreth of a second of additional time to decide whether to swing at a pitch, which has the effect just in terms of reaction time of reducing the effective velocity of a pitch by roughly 1.5 mph, the purpose of the test and hope is giving hitters even that tiny additional piece of time will allow them to make more contact and reduce the strikeout rate.

We’re talking about but we have n’t made a firm decision yet of whether to modify the geometry of the Atlantic League strike zone a little bit, the zone that’s actually called by major league umpires is kind of like an oval. And going to a two-dimensional zone that has corners in it is going to be pitcher friendly because you’re adding space to the strike zone.