MLB is changing their rules on when position players can pitch, and several Dodgers instances from 2022 wouldn’t be allowed in 2023.
The Dodgers were one of the most frequent utilizers of the old position player pitching maneuver in 2022, although they were quite a bit different in that most of their PPP instances came when they had a huge lead, whereas most PPP instances throughout the league came from a team in an insurmountable deficit.
Former LA utilityman Hanser Alberto pitched 11 innings in 10 games for the team last year, with eight of his appearances coming in Los Angeles victories. Under new rules being implemented in 2023, though, three of his appearances wouldn’t have been allowed, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
Teams will be more limited in when they can pitch a position player. The previous rule allowed them to use one when up or down by six or more runs, but the sides are discussing a tweak in which the leading team would have to be up by as many as 10 or more while the trailing team would have to be down by eight or more in order to pitch a position player. The league and players are finalizing the new rule.
Alberto pitched on back-to-back days against the Brewers in August, with a nine-run lead on August 23 and an eight-run lead the next day. Under these new rules, neither of those appearances would have been allowed.
Of the two Dodgers losses Alberto pitched in, one of them wouldn’t be allowed under the new rules. On September 2, Hanser pitched with a seven-run deficit, which wouldn’t meet the new criteria.
Alberto’s other seven games pitched would still be allowed. He pitched with a 10-run deficit in the other LA loss, and he pitched with leads of 10 runs (four times), 11 runs, and 13 runs (twice).
Alberto is no longer a Dodger, of course, and we don’t know if the team will have a designated PPP in 2023 like they did with Hanser. But if so, they’ll be more limited in how often they can use him.
