Byron Buxton accused of dirty play leading to Vinnie Pasquantino injury

Ahead of the 2023 season, MLB made several rule changes. The main one was adding a pitch clock to improve the pace of play. While it can be frustrating at times, it's safe to say that move was a huge win. Another change was limiting pitcher disengagements. That, again, was to help with the pace of play. The third change involved making the bases bigger. There are a couple of reasons why MLB made that change.

First, MLB wanted more stolen bases. It's not hard to see why. Stolen bases are very fun to watch, as we saw with Ronald Acuña Jr. Bigger bases meant a shorter distance between them, making it easier for base stealers. Second, MLB wanted to increase player safety. Bigger bases give the fielder and runner more room to position themselves to avoid collisions.

For the most part, the bigger bases have done their job. Unfortunately, in a game featuring the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins, there was a play that had Royals fans wishing for even bigger bases.

Was Vinnie Pasquantino's injury caused by a dirty Byron Buxton play?

Facing off against Royals starter Cole Ragans, Buxton hit a weak ground ball to third base. He used arguably his best tool, his speed, to make the play close at first base, but he clipped Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino in the process with his cleat on Pasquantino's lower leg. Buxton was initially ruled out, but after replay review, he was called safe. Meanwhile, Pasquantino had to leave the game with an injury as a result of that play.

Buxton was running his hardest to ensure he could beat the play, which he did, but he did so without keeping Pasquantino's safety in mind. As you can see in the clip, Buxton was running on the grass, well outside of the baseline, and wound up running into Pasquantino because of that. That's something that simply cannot happen.

The lines are there for a reason. When a ball is hit in the infield, the runner is not supposed to be outside of the baselines. Buxton clearly was, for whatever reason, and Pasquantino might seriously be hurt because of it.

It's hard to envision Buxton, a player who has been injured repeatedly over the course of his ten-year career doing this on purpose, but the play certainly isn't clean. Buxton consoling Pasquantino doesn't change that.

As the X user above says, double bases have to be something MLB considers after seeing a play like this take place. They might not look great, but having separate bases for the fielder and the runner prevents a play like this from occurring.