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Report: MLB to allow interpreters to mound for pitchers

Rangers pitchers Yu Darvish will now be allowed to have an interpreter on the mound for conferences. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Rangers pitchers Yu Darvish will now be allowed to have an interpreter on the mound for conferences.  (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Major League Baseball approved a rule change allowing coaches and managers to bring interpreters to the mound for conferences with foreign-born pitchers who don't speak fluent English, reports ESPN.com.

MLB also made several other rules changes last week including adding a seventh coach to be dressed for a game. Now the players union needs to vote on the changes in order for them to be implemented for the upcoming season, which begins March 31, a Sunday night game with the Texas Rangers taking on the Houston Astros.

Previously, clubs were allowed to have just six coaches dressed for a game. But with numerous teams adding a second hitting coach for this year, clubs pushed for permission to have a seventh coach in uniform, and owners agreed.

Another rule change concerns pitchers attempting a pickoff move where they fake throwing the ball to third base and then throw to first base. The Rules Committee outlawed that move last season, but the players' union overruled them.

MLB has the ability to implement that change unilaterally for this year, but is hopeful the players will agree to the new rule so it can be implemented jointly, sources said.