For a season or two college ball did not make you throw the pitches. IMO it does not save enough time in a game to use as a provision in an attempt shorten games. Now things like what happened tonight certainly don't happen often but they do happen. What does happen fairly often is that the pitcher has difficulty in finding the zone after throwing four intentional balls.

TexasRebel said:

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There ought to be a provision that the pitches must be thrown if the go-ahead run is on the field.

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I understand where you are coming from with that, but, if you don't do this on a regular basis, it becomes even more of a crapshoot for the team trying to execute under pressure. Either you make them throw it all the time, or you let them waive the guy down to first all the time.

The college rule back when I was in school was to waive them down to first. We had plenty of drama without watching freshman relievers trying to accurately execute an intentional walk.

Well, about 50% or more of the MLB Players Association membership is pitchers, so while I don't know their voting rules, I'm sure at least half of the membership was saying they supported the rule change.

jkag89 said:

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For a season or two college ball did not make you throw the pitches. IMO it does not save enough time in a game to use as a provision in an attempt shorten games. Now things like what happened tonight certainly don't happen often but they do happen. What does happen fairly often is that the pitcher has difficulty in finding the zone after throwing four intentional balls.

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And the 4 intentional balls also count against his pitch count, and he is physically throwing the ball, which can wear down his arm. Doesnt seem fair to intentionally walk someone and the pitcher leaves that batter without having thrown a pitch.