“Play the game the way it is,” MLB legend Adrian Beltre expresses his discontentment with the new rule changes in the baseball league

Baseball legend and former Texas Ranger player Adrian Beltre had one of the most glorious Major League Baseball (MLB) careers out of all players. He featured in the MLB from 1998 till 2018 and has scored 477 home runs in his career. He is also one of the only 12 players to have 3000 hits with 400 and above home runs.

In one of his latest statements to Fox News, Beltre is not at all a fan of the new changes that will be implemented in the MLB. The new changes will help in shortening the length of baseball games, which usually lasts for more than 3 hours. New changes are being made to revitalize the popularity of baseball in North America.

Beltre is on a mission to make baseball popular globally. He has joined alongside Mariano Rivera and Barry Larkin as an investor in Baseball United, the first professional baseball league in West Asia. While that league may have some bizarre rules which contradict baseball’s original ones, Beltre is not particularly keen on the new changes that MLB has come up with for the next season.

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Texas Rangers legend Adrian Beltre expresses his thoughts on the new MLB changes

MLB is trying out new rules to revitalize its popularity in North America. With the new rules such as Pitch Clock and Infield Shifts, the league is trying to shorten the time of the matches played. On average, a nine-inning match lasts for around 3 hours and 3 minutes. However, with these new rules in place, the matches can be shortened by around half an hour.

Speaking to Fox News, Beltre says, “How much time are you saving? You’re going through all these changes. They played the game for 100 years the same, to save five, 10 minutes maybe, out of the game? Because they’ve been doing too many changes for the last 10 years to save two to five minutes. It’s not a big difference when you’re making so many changes.”

The Pitch Clock was introduced in minor league games last season and is reported to have reduced the game time by around 26 minutes. With these new rules, the league hopes for more action to the base paths and more hits and stolen bases.

Adding further to his skepticism, Beltre says, “I can consider myself kind of old school. I’m all about getting players ready to do your job. Ninety-five percent of the players, normally, they get in, they get out in normal time. I understand what they’re doing. They’re trying to get the game to go a little faster. But if you ask me, honest question, I’d rather just play the game the way it is. But it is what it is. People try to innovate. MLB’s trying to bring more fans to it and make it more exciting for the fans.”

While there is uncertainty as to how these changes will impact the upcoming games, MLB is still hopeful that they will be able to give fans better shows and faster-paced games which have been one of the most lingering demands as of now.

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