Our new dead ball zone will be marked at 28' down the foul lines from home plate, with those two points connected by a straight line drawn across the field. This results in a distance of 19.8' to the line directly in front of home plate.
The scale graphic of the field layout found above compares the old (darker arc) and new (white lines). The playable area in front of the pitcher hasn't changed much at all. Slow dribblers rolling straight-ahead will play out like they always have, where the pitcher charging in has a chance to make a quick play. It's those same 'little tricklers' tapped further toward the lines where defenders now have more options and get a bit of a reprieve. It was all-but-impossible to record an out on a ball settling into these short corners, even against a below-average runner. Now, a pitcher or shortstop charging the ball has a couple extra steps to make a play to stop the ball short and keep it out of play. Any ball hit hard enough to reach the new line should provide any heads-up defender with at least a shot at making a bang-bang play.
Will this end up taking away a few hits? Sure. Really crappy ones that not even your mother could be proud of.
Now, go make mom proud.
