The Pitch Clock Arrives in MLB

If you follow Cloud Nine Higher and you skip past the baseball posts, paying more attention to college basketball, college football, and my latest gorgeous/handsome promotional model, you may want to keep reading. If you follow the blog and you're already a big baseball fan, you probably already have your opinions about the new Major League Baseball rules for 2023. But you can keep reading too. 😉

I am focusing this post on the pitch timer a/k/a pitch clock. Also among the new rules for next year are limits on defensive shifts and larger bases. The defensive shift rule was something I thought was already in place when I noticed that my St. Louis Cardinals shifted an outfielder to the infield recently in an extra inning situation and thereby prevented the Cincinnati Reds from scoring a run when it seemed that a run easily would score. The Cardinals wound up winning the game, and it doesn't seem that the new rule about infield shifts would have affected their move against the Reds anyway.

Anyway, back to the pitch clock. Just as soon as you got used to the National League teams using the designated hitter in 2022, here comes a pitch clock rule. In going to Nashville Sounds games prior to the great pandemic of 2020 and beyond, I noticed the pitch clock experiment. But I never really paid that much attention to it. Minor League Baseball at all levels is more about relaxing, checking out prospects for the big leagues or big league players on rehab assignment, and socializing. 

Here is what I am reading on the official website of baseball, MLB.com: 

1. The timer is 30 seconds between batters, 15 seconds between pitches with the bases empty, and 20 seconds with runners on base.
2. By the eight second mark, batters must be in the box and alert. The penalty is an automatic strike.
3. A pitcher must begin his motion to pitch before the expiration of the pitch timer. Penalty: Automatic ball.
4. If runners are on base, the clock resets if a pitcher attempts a pickoff or steps off of the rubber.
5. Pitchers are limited to two "disengagements" per plate appearance. A "disengagement" is a pickoff attempt or a step-off of the rubber. Penalty for a third step-off or unsuccessful pickoff attempt: Runner advances. The disengagement limit resets if a runner advances during a plate appearance.
6. Mound visits, injury timeouts, or offensive team timeouts do not count as a disengagement. 
7. Apparently there already was a five mound visit limit in place. Not 100% sure. Anyway, a team would receive an extra mound visit in the ninth inning if all mound visits have been used.

The disengagement rule to me is confusing. But I suppose that is where the umpires earn their pay. Not to mention managers and players. After all, it is the big leagues. Those of us who are fans will learn in the course of time. As I have enjoyed Major League Baseball "as is" for years, I was skeptical when I first heard of these coming rule changes recently.

But I have also noticed waning interest in baseball. Local honky tonks and other bars know when to tune their giant televisions to football. One of my followers commented that I might not want to comment as much on baseball when Nashville is football country. When March Madness rolls around, people get excited about hoops. The Nashville Sounds promote their team very well. But I get it: Baseball is not as popular here as other sports. 

It's a long season with a lot of games. We don't have a big league team here in Nashville. With Vanderbilt, Belmont, Tennessee State, and Lipscomb in town and Middle Tennessee and Austin Peay not far away, we have had a marvelous college hoops tradition for years. Some of that has changed, but that is a topic for another blog post.

Nashville has both SEC and NFL football, and the SEC in general is popular here. I am also an advocate for my law school alma mater Memphis and for Middle Tennessee. But SEC football rules in this part of the world.

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was quoted in the MLB.com article written by Anthony Castrovince and dated September 9, 2022 as such: 

"Our guiding star in thinking about changes to the game has always been our fans. 'What do our fans want to see on the field?' We've conducted thorough and ongoing research with our fans, and certain things are really clear. Number 1, fans want games with better pace. Two, fans want more action, more balls in play. And three, fans want to see more of the athleticism of our great players."

And therein lies the reason that I am currently gravitating toward liking this change of pace - literally and figuratively. Baseball is always going to be harder to follow than football at any level because the games come and go more quickly.

MLB Network covers MLB as it should be covered. ESPN, FOX, and Bally Sports have enhanced their coverage with certain effects like "miking up" managers and even players on the field for in-game commentary.

The marketing of the game to the next generation is a good thing. And this is true even if it takes just a bit for longtime fans such as me to become used to the changes.

One friend of mine stated that the pitch clock reminds him of the shot clock in basketball. The shot clock arrived on the college and high school scene at about the time I began college. It, along with the three-point line, have helped the game and appealed to fans.

And when the first pitch is thrown in 2023, the pace of baseball will be more fan friendly too.

James A. Rose

Publisher