Report: MLB could look at adjusting strike zone next season

Rob Manfred has demonstrated an openness to exploring ways to increase offense in the game early on in his tenure as commissioner and Major League Baseball could be gearing towards making the game a little easier on hitters in time for next season. 

The league is reportedly considering altering the strike zone in an attempt to eliminate the low strike, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. 

Concern around baseball about the strike zone filtered down to the MLB’s Playing Rules Committee, which must formally adopt a rules change before it’s implemented. The committee will pay close attention to the size of the strike zone in 2015 with an eye on change as early as 2016 after studies showed it has expanded significantly since 2009, coinciding with a precipitous dip in run scoring. Of particular concern, sources said, is the low strike, a scourge not only because it has stretched beyond the zone’s boundaries but is considered a significantly more difficult pitch to hit.

Passan notes that runs per game reached its lowest mark (4.07) since 1981 last season, with the average size of the called strike zone increasing since 2009.