Martin, Bryant condemn intentional walk rule

It appears Major League Baseball's ruling to modify the intentional walk has already drawn a fair amount of criticism.

In between workouts on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin sounded off on the decision to change baseball's common practice in order to speed up the game by signaling to the dugout instead of a pitcher having to throw four balls.

"By no means are intentional walks automatic, until now. Now they are. So they're speeding up the game," Martin said, telling reporters they could tweet out his response if they desired, according to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi.

"My thing is, if they really want to speed up the game, then when a guy hits a home run, to speed up the game should a guy, just like in softball, when he hits it, should he just walk to the dugout? It'd be quicker. I'm just wondering, at what point do we just keep the game, the game? Or, how about this calculation: take all the intentional walks that were made in the last couple years and calculate - or maybe just ask to see if they have that information, to see if they really did their homework. Is it really that important to speed up the game? Because how many games did we play last year where we didn't have one intentional walk? That's something I'd like to know."

(Numbers courtesy: Newsday)

2016 National League MVP and World Series champion Kris Bryant echoed Martin's thoughts on MLB's attempt to change the game and wonders if, conversely, commissioner Rob Manfred's stance on the intentional walk could end up having a negative affect throughout baseball.

"If anything, it might hurt (the game)," Bryant said, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. "Because that puts pressure on the pitchers to make that pitch. It seems like it's not stressful at all, but any time you’re not throwing it full effort for a pitcher, it seems like there's a chance to do damage on that. There has been plenty of times where a guy has thrown away (a pitch on) an intentional walk. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out."

The rule, which will be in effect this season, was approved by the Players' Association led by Tony Clark on Wednesday.