The new intentional walk debuted on Sunday night and was so fast you probably missed it

For as long as anybody can remember, intentionally walking a batter meant the pitcher had to throw four pitches to the catcher outside the strike zone (no matter how poorly/fantastic it turned out). But this season, in accordance with new pace-of-play rules, teams would be able to save time and just point the batter toward first base. So, what would that look like during a live game?

Well, in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Cardinals' 4-3 win over the Cubs in Sunday's Opening Night, Yadier Molina became the first to experience the new process. As you can see in the main clip above, it was over and done with before anybody realized it. Even Yadi got a kick out of it:

Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag. Click here to view original GIF

MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch spoke to Cards manager Mike Matheny about it after the game.

"It's one of those [things] we don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about. I understand that there is an initiative here to speed up the game and it speeds it up."

In other words, the new IBB is now executed in the flashiest of flashes.