The Major League Baseball 15 second pitch clock will now be joined by the hitters clock the batter has eight seconds to get in the batter’s box and hit or could be charged with a strike call these rules will be implemented for the 2023 season. (photo from mlb.com)
Changes in Baseball Coming to a Park near You
That’s Amaury News and Commentary–
By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez
“The Only Constant in Life is Change” – Heraclitus, a Greek Philosopher once wrote. Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred is no Heraclitus, but under his tenure, he is changing the game of baseball. Well, trying anyway. We remember Mike Hargrove, who played in the 1970s and 1980s also better known as “The Human Rain Delay” because of his deliberate routine at the plate before each at-bat and before each pitch.
The record books show he played for 12 years in the major leagues, but if we could add all the time he spend at the plate, we can probably increase it by two more years. If he was playing this 2023 season he could not do those antics at the plate. To be fair there were others that took all the time in the world at the plate like, for example, Nomar Garciaparra.
Beginning this year, hitters will have to be ready inside the batting box and ready to hit in eight seconds. These are changes that you will “discover” this season if you attend a game or in your living room in front of the television, or if you watch the games on your telephone. When I was a kid growing up in Cuba, I can imagine what my grandfather Armando would have told me if I said to him, “Abuelo, I am going to watch the game on the telephone”. I know his answer, but I will not translate it here.
1-Pitch Clock.
Mike Moore, pitched for 14 years, four of those with the Oakland A’s, and I know I could shave, put aftershave, a t-shirt, and a nice shirt in between his pitches. He will also (if he were pitching today) could not take too much time in-between pitches.
Commissioner Rob Manfred is implementing changes after trying them in the minor leagues. Starting this 2023 season, pitchers will have 15 seconds to deliver the ball, with bases empty and 20 seconds with at least one runner on base. If a pitcher exceeds the clock time he could be charged with a balk (with runner(s) on base.
The hitters will also have to be ready inside the batting box and ready to hit in eight seconds. Years from now, when robotics are running everything, baseball could clone a pitcher like Hall of Fame Greg Maddux, because anyway by that time, bases on balls would have been banned, just like the Umpires, they all left us, like the Dodo bird, all extinct and if a pitcher can’t throw strikes, he is in the wrong line of work.
2-Defensive Shift
A team must have two infielders to the right of the second base and two to the left of the second base, all four on the outer part of the infield. It is expected to be more traditional and it could and should increase batting averages, therefore more people running which equals more action, and more excitement. Before the shift, (the baseball that we all knew) infielders didn’t play outside the infield. I do not believe Ted Williams would have supported the shift all the time, for every .220 hitter, as we have seen recently. After all, who can hit .400 anyway?
3-Larger Bases.
The bases that were 15 square inches, this season will be 18 square inches. The study revealed that this keeps players healthier as far as bases-related injuries with a decline of 13.5 % in the minor leagues in 2022, at every level of the minors. The minor leagues have become the experimental laboratories for baseball.
And who is getting more responsibilities? The Umpires will have to live and die by the clock. We will altogether see how it works. By the way, these changes begin during the 2023 Spring Training games in Arizona and Florida. Oh yes, the “free runner” at the second base starting each extra inning game in the top of the tenth inning is back and it looks like it is going to stay.
Manfred seems to be its biggest fan. Please excuse my cynicism, and with all respect to the Commissioner; if the purpose is to end the game right away; why not start with a runner at third base in the top of the tenth? Credit him with a triple which is still the most difficult to get. Make the player happy. Statistics have shown that if you have a runner at third with no outs it usually scores around 50% of the time. In Las Vegas, you have a 1 in 5 tries chance to win any price in a slot machine.
Like everything in life, some like it, and some do not. The biggest critic so far is ex-major league pitcher Rob Dibble. “It’s idiotic,” Dibble responded to a question about MLB’s implementation of a pitch clock, and he was just getting started. “I heard what Theo Epstein said [and] it was idiotic. He’s working for Rob Manfred who doesn’t love baseball the way we do. “I think the game is fine. You can have analytics, you can have the old-school mentality, it all works,” Dibble continued. “But when you start hating on the game and saying ‘we need a pitch clock, we need pitchers to work faster’ you know what’s going to happen? Guys are going to throw fewer strikes. There’s going to be less active.” Others like ex-A’s currently with the New York Mets, Mark Cahna like it. “I am open to change. I think I can evolve with the times, and be open-minded. I think the rules are just great. I think it’s really good for baseball”.
Robert Manfred is not going to win a popularity contest with those that love traditional baseball. Baseball takes its time, it is game of leisure and strategy and patience. I remember years ago Dusty Baker telling me he loves fishing, because it develops patience. Managers have to think ahead, and a pitching change still the biggest move a manager will make.
The clock will play a big role this year in major league baseball, but (so far) it is not sponsored by Seiko, Rolex or Longines. Just enjoy the game, do not get hang-up on the clock, because the clock never stops anyway.
Get ready, baseball season is coming soon.
Talking about things coming soon: A fascinating tour of Oakland sports history and a look toward the future of professional sports in the East Bay will be available soon in hard copy by April 11. A book “Goodbye Oakland, A Fight for Survival” by Andy Dolich and Dave Newhouse. Pre-orders on Amazon books, if you do not want to wait until April.
Adios muchachos!
Join Amaury Pi Gonzalez for his latest perspectives on sports on That’s Amaury News and Commentary podcasts Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
