The New MLB Pitch Clock
Baseball is a long game. That’s a known fact. And because of this, baseball over the past decade or so has been falling out of favor with the majority of the public. It is simply just long and quite boring to a swath of people, and they have a point.
Of course, there are the true die-hard fans that live for every inning of the 162-game season. But for the vast majority of people, this is just not the case. So how does the MLB address this problem? The answer is the implementation of the pitch clock for the 2023 season.
Now, what exactly is this ‘pitch clock’ you may ask? Well, it is essentially what it sounds like: a timer that applies to both the pitcher as well as the hitter. There are set amounts of time that will be given to the pitcher to complete their warmup and start the motion of throwing the ball, as well as the batter doing their warmup and setting up to be ready to hit the ball in the batter’s box.
There are eight seconds for the batter, and for the pitcher, 15 seconds with bases empty, and 20 seconds with runners on bases. There are also penalties for players who do not either enter the motion of throwing the ball if they are a pitcher or stand ready for the pitch if they are the batter.
For the batter, it means that they are given an automatic strike, and for the pitcher, they are given an automatic ball. These are the main changes to the game for this season, but not the only ones.
In addition, there will also be a 30-second timer in between batters. All of these have been put in place in the effort to speed up a game that historically has been found to take upwards of three hours and to reignite the likeableness of the game to fans.
If this wasn’t enough change already, the MLB is also placing new regulations on the three bases. Now the bases will measure 18 inches on each side instead of 15 inches with the hope of reducing injuries. All of these changes are, for lack of a better word, “unheard of,” and the players and coaches will need significant time to adjust their play styles to each of them (mainly the pitch clock rules).
For one, in one of the first Spring Training games of the year, Manny Machado, an infielder for the San Diego Padres, became the first one to fall victim to the pitch clock. He was not ready to hit the ball within the 8-second limit and therefore was given an automatic strike. Later on, he joked that he would likely be behind in the count, 0-1, for a good chunk of the early season.
All in all, these new rules are in place to speed up the game of baseball, which is a very welcome improvement. But it will certainly take some adjustment time for the players, teams, and managers to become accustomed to the new regulations.
It will most certainly be an interesting season—one that is sure to have plenty of great moments.