Report: Changes to strike zone, intentional walks approved

Some potentially groundbreaking changes could be coming to Major League Baseball very soon.

The league's competition committee has reportedly agreed to alter the strike zone and eliminate the four-pitch intentional walk by next season, according to Jayson Stark of ESPN.

Both changes, however, still have to be approved by MLB's playing rules committee before they can take effect. Approval from the Players' Association is not needed to make the changes, though Stark notes the union will be consulted as part of ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.

The most dramatic of the two changes would be to the strike zone, which would be raised from its current position at "the hollow beneath the kneecap," as the current rules states, to the top of the hitter's knees. This change is being made in response to umpires calling more strikes on pitches below the knees, according to Stark.

As for the intentional walk, the tweaked rule would see teams simply signal for an intentional walk, at which point the batter would automatically take first base rather than stand in the box and take four wide pitches. This would fall in line with MLB's recent "pace of play" initiatives, including between-inning clocks, that have attempted to speed up games.