Breaking News: MLB Tweaks Transfer Rule, Effective Immediately

Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It’s about freaking time. As reported here and various other outlets recently, Major League Baseball was going to consider revising the recently revised catch rule, that stated if a player lost possession of the ball in transferring the ball from glove to hand that the batter/runner would be safe.

This “transfer rule” has altered the outcomes of several games so far this season, including several by the Seattle Mariners.

But according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports;

"A catch, forceout or tag will be considered legal if a fielder has control of the ball in his glove, but drops the ball after opening his glove to transfer the ball to his throwing hard, sources said. No longer will the fielder be required to successfully get the ball into his throwing hand."

Major League Baseball then confirmed the report via their public relations Twitter feed, adding the timeframe.

Mariners fans don’t need to be reminded of how much they hated this new rule. But several games’ outcomes seemed to have been affected by the rule. I can’t speak for sure if any outcome would have ultimately changed if those calls had been reversed, but it sure seems like we could have potentially avoided the walk-off grand slam in Miami for sure. Who knows?

So good riddance to bad rubbish. It is promising to see MLB hold true to their word about evolving the use of instant replay as situations arise. This was a perfect example of where the use of replay was just ridiculous. Kudos to MLB for adjusting it. Too bad the Mariners can’t get some of those wins back though.