Major League Baseball has reminded hitters that any attempted circumvention of pitch timer rules to gain an advantage will result in a violation in a memo sent to clubs.

The clarification comes in light of Kenley Jansen being assessed two violations in the span of four pitches Saturday after Willson Contreras got into a hitting position with one foot in and one foot out of the batter's box during a game between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals.

Contreras raised his bat and engaged with Jansen with more than the required eight seconds remaining on the clock to be in the box. In seeing this, Jansen came to a set position, which led to the quick pitch violations.

From now on, when a batter gets into a hitting position and engages with the pitcher, with one or both feet out of the box, he'll be warned and then assessed a strike on subsequent violations, according to the memo.