The Atlantic League hitter flies first and writes the history of baseball

At about the same time as the robot referees were invited to referee the All-Star game, Major League Baseball and the independent league front office decided to abide by some additional rules to experiment with for the second time. half of the season. Among these was an expansion of the current rule of the third knockout abandoned in the majors, which now allows the batters to try to fly first if a pitcher is not "caught in flight" by the recipient.

On Saturday, Tony Thomas, Southern Blue Crabs striker from southern Maryland, became the first to use this new rule and the first player in the history of baseball to successfully fly the first goal. On the second pitch of his plate, the ball flew just in front of the Lancaster Barnstormers catcher for what would normally be a 1-1 count. After a few seconds of inaction between the two players, it suddenly seemed like something in Thomas's head that reminded him of the rule change – probably a teammate or coach screaming at him. As the ball rolled to the back of the net, the receiver was unable to get to the ball before Thomas reached goal safely.

The rule itself seems to go well, but it's hard to trust any rule changes arising from the mandate of someone who basically does not seem to like baseball. It's also a bit crappy that this important change in the sport was made mid-season and uses players who are not even at the highest level of the sport as guinea pigs, especially those who catch, who must suddenly s & # 39; improve. an athletic skill that will only really be needed in this specific league.

But these questions do not count much for Rob Manfred, who just wants to know if this shit sticks to the wall and if the addition of this change will eventually lead Mookie Betts to appear in more ads, or something. Baseball fans might just as well be prepared to see this happen in a global series in a few years.