Crawford not fond of rule change

A day after second baseman Joe Panik was the focus of Major League Baseball’s redefined interpretation of the so-called neighborhood play, shortstop Brandon Crawford said the change puts middle infielders at risk of injury.

“I think the rule was supposed to be put in place to prevent injuries, protect infielders a little bit,” Crawford said.

When MLB and the union added Rule 6.01(j) in late February to ban the takeout slide, they also terminated the neighborhood play and made it reviewable.

In the past, infielders were given credit for making outs simply by being near the base.

[...] the runner can still slide through the bag, and if you have to stay on there a split second just to make sure you have possession of the ball while you’re on the bag, you’re leaving yourself open to having the runner slide straight into you.

Runners can still slide through the bag so long as they keep contact with it or grab it as they slide by.

[...] to have to stay on there, it’s not preventing injuries or helping us.

In Thursday’s home opener, replays showed Panik lifted his foot off the bag just before taking Crawford’s feed, wiping out an inning-ending double play.

“I might have to really focus on staying on there, catching and then throwing, where before it was all one motion, especially in a big situation, if there’s a guy on third who can score if they say I did come off the bag,” said Crawford, adding that some disputable calls on the rule prohibiting takeout slides affected the outcome of a couple of games.

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Hardware presentation:

In a pregame ceremony, pitcher Madison Bumgarner, shortstop Brandon Crawford and catcher Buster Posey received their Silver Slugger awards, and Posey received his award as Wilson’s defensive catcher of the year.