JUPITER, Fla. _ A Major League Baseball rule change this week landed Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton a permanent place in the baseball history books: He was the recipient of the last regular-season traditional intentional walk.
Starting this season, intentional walks will be automatic after a signal from the dugout, as opposed to pitchers having to lob four balls well outside the strike zone. Baseball implemented the change as part of an ongoing effort to make games more exciting.
The last traditional intentional walk came on the final day of the 2016 regular season. In the top of the eighth inning, Washington Nationals reliever Reynaldo Lopez gave the free pass to a pinch-hitting Stanton.
"I hope they never change it (back)," Stanton said with a smile.
Stanton thought the move to auto-intentional walks couldn't hurt as far as pace-of-play concerns go.
Justin Bour, who led Marlins hitters with nine intentional walks last season, is taking a wait-and-see approach. He said one downside for hitters is some pitchers have trouble re-finding the strike zone after tossing four half-effort pitches outside, which will no longer be an issue.
"I know there's been a couple of games won or lost on (intentional walk flubs), but I know (MLB is) all about speeding up the game," Bour said. "We'll see how it goes."
