Here are the new rules coming to the Minors this season

Several experimental rule changes are coming to Minor League Baseball ahead of the upcoming 2026 season.

The new rules will be implemented in various ways across different levels of the Minors. They are designed to further improve the pace of play, increase action and provide additional opportunities for players to showcase their athleticism.

Some of baseball’s recent innovations, like the pitch timer and the ABS challenge system, also began as Minor League experiments. However, right now, the latest slew of rule changes are simply experimental, with no imminent arrival in the Majors.

Here’s a rundown of the latest experimental rules coming to Minor League Baseball in 2026.

Moving second base

In the International League, beginning in the second half of the season, the second-base bag will be placed entirely within the perimeter of the infield diamond. Visually, that means the bag will be closer to home plate. More pertinently, it will be roughly nine inches closer to the first-base and third-base bags.

Right now, the second-base bag is halfway inside and halfway outside the imaginary diamond, if you were to draw a line around the infield.

This is similar to when MLB increased the size of the bases from 15 inches to 18 inches, initially incentivizing players to steal more bases.

Swing rules

Beginning on May 5, the Pacific Coast League is implementing a Check Swing Challenge. Players will be allowed to appeal the umpire’s decision as to whether or not the batter actually swung at a pitch. Using bat-tracking technology, a swing will be called when the maximum angle between the bat head and the bat handle is greater than 45 degrees.

This rule was tested in the Florida State League and the Arizona Fall League in 2025. According to the league, the strikeout rate was over 3% lower when the Check Swing Challenge was used, leading to more balls in play.

Teams will start the game with two challenges and may use a challenge on either ball/strike calls or swing/no-swing calls -- but not both on the same pitch.

Additional pitch clock regulations

Last year, in the Majors, the average nine-inning game lasted 2 hours and 38 minutes -- up from 2:36 the year prior. A few new measures are coming to the Minors in an attempt to further augment the intended benefits of the pitch clock.

Batters will face restrictions on the number of timeouts they are able to call during an at-bat, with different restrictions applying to different levels of the Minors. In Single-A, batters will not be able to request time at any point in an at-bat, barring special circumstances (such as equipment issue, or having been brushed back). In High-A, batters can call time with runners on base. Batters will still be able to call time in Double-A and Triple-A, although the home-plate umpire will no longer wait for the hitter to be ready before restarting the clock; hitters must be ready before the clock is at eight seconds.

Sticking in Triple-A, but switching to the mound: If a pitcher claims that his PitchCom device isn’t working, this will count as a mound visit, taking away from the team’s allotted total of mound visits. If the team is out of mound visits and still has to address an issue with PitchCom, then the pitcher will be charged a pitch-clock violation and thus an automatic ball.

In Double-A, the Disengagement Limit will be reduced from two to one. So, when there are runners on base, pitchers may only pick off or step off once during a plate appearance.

There will also be a codified penalty in all levels of the Minors for mound visits that exceed the allotted time. Everyone except the pitcher must be off the dirt of the mound before the mound visit clock reaches zero, or else the mound visit will result in a pitch-clock violation, meaning a ball will be awarded to the batter.

Starting pitchers returning to the game

In the Arizona Fall League, Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League, the starting pitcher will be permitted to re-enter a game after being removed, so long as the re-entry occurs in the inning that immediately follows the starter’s departure. To be eligible for re-entry, the starting pitcher must throw at least 25 pitches in the inning during which he is removed.

A similar rule has been in place in MLB Spring Training since 2021.