It's not an improvement.
And hand checking and targeting are completely different. That relates to obstruction and impeding play of others in a contact sport, like letting a catcher use his glove to block a swing, or a hitter stand in the way of a C making a throw. A more correct analogy would be not allowing a defender to go beyond the 3 point line because they are too good at defending or not allowing more than 2 guys cover a specific receiver downfield. That's what baseball is doing.
You are correct in one thing, players grow and the game evolves. These rules in baseball are an attempt to block that growth and evolution because they are combating that increase that comes from knowledge.
There's nothing "weird" about allowing people to play smarter. It's ignorant to prevent it.