No, it was always in the game. The patch didn't change this. You are probably noticing it now since it's been brought to your attention.
It isn't a bug. I've discussed this at the 2K Forums. With a little keen observation while playing, you'll see exactly why they put this effect in in-between pitches.
Sometimes when you hit a foul ball, the screen will stay long enough for you to see the batter walking back inside the batters box. However, the player snaps back into position after the animation that has them step back.
It looks like VC added a bunch of step in and step out animations, but they are not continuous animations, they are separate. You notice that batters will step back into the box in many different ways between pitches? They also step out after swings in several different ways. The two animations (step in and step out) are separate and are not blended. To rectify that, they added the cut to smooth the transition instead of letting us see the snapping into place when the animation changes.