Former Dodger Makes a Scene Over News of New Rules Coming to MLB

Former Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill showed his displeasure over the rules changes coming to MLB next year in a video posted on Twitter.

Former Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill has had the "old man" part of "grumpy old man" down for a while, at least by baseball standards. Now, with new that MLB will be instituting a handful of rules changes next season, Hill has added "grumpy" to his résumé.

One of the rule changes — seemingly the least controversial of the three — is that the bases will increase in size, from 15 by 15 inches to 18 by 18.

The NESN cameras caught Hill doing a vaudeville routine showing what he thinks about the new, larger bases.

Rich Hill is not a fan of the news the bases will be slightly larger in 2023... pic.twitter.com/eojGy5S65Q

— NESN (@NESN) September 9, 2022

The larger bases are actually the only one of the three changes the union representatives on the rules committee actually voted in favor of. The players felt the MLB side wasn't flexible enough on their ideas for pitch clocks and limiting shifts, so the players voted against them knowing they'd be implemented anyway.

Maybe the larger base demonstration is Hill's way of showing displeasure with the process in general. Maybe he has strong feelings about the larger bases that are known only to him. Or maybe he's far enough into his 40s that he just instinctively dislikes any change at all.

MLB has experimented with all these changes at various levels of the minor leagues, and they say their research shows that base-related injuries have decreased by 13.5 percent with the larger bases. Dodger fans are particularly aware of this issue, having watched Max Muncy go down to injury in the final weekend of the 2021 regular season and miss the entire postseason.

The rule changes are coming next year, though, and considering Hill's advanced age and his 4.79 ERA, they might be replacing him.