20 Second Pitch Clock Coming to MLB?

Somewhat of a non-issue to me.  Most pitches are within that time frame anyways.  I'd relax the rule in the postseason, otherwise, no big deal

I agree. Went to a Durham Bulls game over the summer. The pace of the game didn't really change. I would like to know how they calculated a 20 sec pitch clock would speed up the game. Have they looked at how much IR has lengthen games?

Son plays in SEC, so I watched a lot of games last season. The pitch clock was present but wasn’t used more than 50% of the time. Most of the time I noticed it, the pitcher was delivering the ball with about 4-5 sec left on the clock. Never saw it expire and never once do I remember an umpire stopping play due to a time issue. Just curious, what is the penalty if the clock “expires”?

I don't think pitching is the problem.  I think umpires and coaches are the problem.  Most pitchers I know like to work fast but when they do the base coaches and umpires giving batters so much time to adjust and step out and try "slow things down" is the problem.  Then the pitchers start taking their time getting on the rubber until the batter is through with all of their adjustments.  The rules are clear to me already that the pitcher is supposed to set the pace, but the umpires are allowing  batters and base coaches to set the pace.   Last year, we called our pitches as soon as the catcher caught the ball and they were verbal so the catcher did not have to signal to the pitcher.  The umpires still allowed batters to step out to slow the game.

Our pitchers reacted by staying off the rubber until the batter was set which slowed down the game tremendously.  To change the rules, they also have to change the  mindset of umpires and clarify the rules on batters trying to slow down the game.  Under this new rule, will they also allow pitchers to pitch immediately when they receive the ball back from the catcher?

I don't like it (Durham Bulls season ticket holder), but its mostly a non-issue.  A mound visit clock on college coaches?  Yeah, that would make a difference.

3and2Fastball posted:

Somewhat of a non-issue to me.  Most pitches are within that time frame anyways.  I'd relax the rule in the postseason, otherwise, no big deal

Not so. Average pitch time in MLB is 23 seconds.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leade...yers=0&sort=11,d

Some guys are a lot slower.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leade...yers=0&sort=11,d

PitchingFan posted:

I don't think pitching is the problem.  I think umpires and coaches are the problem.  Most pitchers I know like to work fast but when they do the base coaches and umpires giving batters so much time to adjust and step out and try "slow things down" is the problem.  Then the pitchers start taking their time getting on the rubber until the batter is through with all of their adjustments.  The rules are clear to me already that the pitcher is supposed to set the pace, but the umpires are allowing  batters and base coaches to set the pace.   Last year, we called our pitches as soon as the catcher caught the ball and they were verbal so the catcher did not have to signal to the pitcher.  The umpires still allowed batters to step out to slow the game.

Our pitchers reacted by staying off the rubber until the batter was set which slowed down the game tremendously.  To change the rules, they also have to change the  mindset of umpires and clarify the rules on batters trying to slow down the game.  Under this new rule, will they also allow pitchers to pitch immediately when they receive the ball back from the catcher?

there needs to be a balance, I disagree with you that pitchers like to work fast, some do, others are human rain delays.

you want to speed up the game - stop all the mound conferences without a pitching change, stop the multiple pick off throws to 1st, the countless step offs no throws to 2nd, call a strike zone that is reasonable and not a shoe box, I think 15 seconds is a better amount of time...I personally would prefer 10 but not everyone works that fast.

if umps would call pitch at the belt or a hair higher a strike they wouldn't have to call the damn pitches 3 inches off the plate a strike! that would help immensely as well. the belt high pitch can be hard and will be swung at vs the outside one that will taken all night long until there are 2 strikes.

FWIW, for the last 6 seasons I’ve tracked time between pitches. Please see attachment.

 It’s pretty easy to see there’s not really much of a problem when there’s no runners on, but the average time goes up by 4 seconds a pitch for every pitch with runners on. It doesn’t amount to much for a batter or even an inning, but over the course of a game or a season, those 4 seconds add up to a bunch of time.

The proposed MLB clock would only apply when there are no runners on base.

BTW - my proposal to speed up the game?  Ban velcro on batting gloves.  It does not work at all, apparently, as every hitter in the league needs to unseal and reseal both gloves between each pitch. The gloves can close with buttons, or laces, or just be stretchy. And if Jonny Gomes ever plays again, he has to do so without a helmet, as his seems to get loose after every pitch.

So when we play games on tv there's a timer between every pitch and inning. The pitch clock is not an issue, it has no real effect on the game. Never felt rushed.

the time between innings for commercial breaks feel way to long. I like to go out, pitcher get warm and set a pace for the inning. The commercial breaks make us sit around for a few minutes before we are allowed to resume play but there's nothing anyone can really do about that.

D1catcher posted:

So when we play games on tv there's a timer between every pitch and inning. The pitch clock is not an issue, it has no real effect on the game. Never felt rushed.

the time between innings for commercial breaks feel way to long. I like to go out, pitcher get warm and set a pace for the inning. The commercial breaks make us sit around for a few minutes before we are allowed to resume play but there's nothing anyone can really do about that.

In a televised game, the time between half-innings is only supposed to be increased by 18 seconds (more, if the conference dictates.) None of my conferences extend it beyond that.

Finding the "right balance" between a ready to go (or speedier) pitcher and a 3B coach & batter is an "art form". If you allow the pitcher to go too fast, trust me the complaints come from the other side about quick pitches or being forced to play too fast (or play the other teams game).  Causing the pitcher to wait is thus a "head game" some coaches like to play.  So then it's the umpire's job to strike a balance - some are good, some not so. I had one coach complain and I reminded him that if he'd prefer I could just call a strike on his batter the next time he left the box without being one of the reasons the HS rule book allows. It didn't pacify him, but he got the message that I wasn't going to allow him to unnecessarily slow down the game. I also let the catcher/pitcher (and other coach) know that I couldn't allow quick pitches. They got the message and adjusted quicker than the slow play team.

It is both,pitchers taking time andto batters stepping out and re strapping their batting gloves.

Maybe you could limit batters to one step out per at bat. If he needs more because something distracted him he can do it but has to give up a strike. Pitchers vice versa should give up a ball if they take more time.

There are an average of 298 pitches in a MLB game up from 270 approximately 25 years ago. If you can get each pitch delivered 4 seconds faster that is almost 1200 seconds or 20 minutes per ballgame.  It would be a vast improvement in the pacing of the game.  

Knock out some of the meetings - and you might have hope of knocking the 3:05 modern day average back down toward 2:40.  If they got creative and did some split screen stuff between pitches they could actually create more ad time AND cut down on the between inning time. Hell you can have a pretty girl pour a beer in 10 seconds and say Budweiser!  Same with Coke or burgers or cars.  Do that between batters or every so often between pitches and you can get 30 or 45 seconds per inning easily.  The old Radio calls used to have these sales pitches all the time. 

I think MLB should do everything it can to get games to 2:30 or less.  More than that - starting West coast at 7:05 with a 2:30 game times means east coasters can watch the whole ballgame and be in bed by 12:45 or 1AM.  You might even get more eyeballs AND more revenue.

While there are exceptions - the 3 1/2 hour 5-3 baseball game is not nearly as enjoyable as a briskly paced 2 1/2 hour affair.

younggun posted:

Son plays in SEC, so I watched a lot of games last season. The pitch clock was present but wasn’t used more than 50% of the time. Most of the time I noticed it, the pitcher was delivering the ball with about 4-5 sec left on the clock. Never saw it expire and never once do I remember an umpire stopping play due to a time issue. Just curious, what is the penalty if the clock “expires”?

Ha, the irony

How about the pitch clock along with each batter getting 1 time or 1 chance to step out of the box per game? Mound visits limited to 30 seconds from the time the coach leaves the dugout. 

the batters are slowing down the game.... and the 3b coach and the trips to the mound.  Seldom it's the pitcher every game. But rest assured the batters are going to adjust their socks, shoes, helmet , gloves, pine tar , dig out the batters box and all of that to take a pitch or foul one off.

If you take a pitch you stay in the box, if you foul the ball then you actually made contact, then you get to re-adjust.  Also call a little higher zone... cut down on pitches thrown

younggun posted:

Son plays in SEC, so I watched a lot of games last season. The pitch clock was present but wasn’t used more than 50% of the time. Most of the time I noticed it, the pitcher was delivering the ball with about 4-5 sec left on the clock. Never saw it expire and never once do I remember an umpire stopping play due to a time issue. Just curious, what is the penalty if the clock “expires”?

Each pitcher gets one warning, then it's a ball for each violation.