Yankees’ Aaron Boone weighs in on MLB’s idea of moving the pitching rubber back

new york yankees, nyy, gerrit cole
Apr 1, 2021; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone takes starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) out of the game during the sixth inning of an opening day game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Major League Baseball seems fixated on the idea that the game needs to do something to change the predominant “three true outcomes”: home runs, walks, and strikeouts. They want more action on the bases, and more balls in play. The New York Yankees, and every other team in the league, could endure a huge impact in the run-prevention department if the measure is ever implemented in the big leagues.

This week, it was announced that MLB and the Atlantic League will make an experiment: in the mentioned circuit, they will move the pitching rubber back to 61 feet, 6 inches. In total, they will move it 12 inches further from the plate.

The idea is that batters have a little bit of extra time to react to pitches and put the ball in play with more frequency.

The Yankees’ skipper was surprised but is willing to try it

Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone was surprised by the measure when he first learned about it on Wednesday. He wondered, according to MLB.com’s Yankees official site, how much it would affect pitchers, in the hypothetical case the rule was applied in the big show.

Yet, the Yankees’ skipper appears open to see how it works out.

“That seems pretty drastic, but again, sometimes the craziest of ideas end up having some traction to them,” Boone said. “I think it’s important that you try these things out when you are trying to consider different things in a league, where you can kind of take some information and see how it works out.

“I think it’s good that Major League Baseball is trying a number of these things out — to see what it looks like, gather information about it and look for ways to continue to move the game forward.”

The Yankees have some of the best pitchers in the world: Gerrit Cole, Aroldis Chapman, Corey Kluber, Chad Green, and other prominent names. It remains to be seen if it is something that they would be on board with.