Major League Baseball is already making tweaks to the pitch clock.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan outlined all of them contained in a memo published by MLB.
Most of it is common sense minutia. Things like allowing more time for batters to get set after getting brushed back or pitchers to get back to the mound after covering a base.
Although, my favorite is a crackdown on the biggest problem facing MLB today: lollygagging bat boys and bat girls.
Harumph!
Via Passan’s post: “New standards will be enforced for bat boys and bat girls, whose ability to quickly retrieve equipment will help efforts to speed up the game, according to the memo. The league will evaluate the performances of bat boys and bat girls and could ask teams to replace them if their performance is considered substandard.”
Hustle up, Junior!
How about that, huh? No “standards” or meaningful “performance evaluations” for umpires like Angel Hernandez. But MLB is going to be watching the bat boys like a hawk.
Dusty Baker doesn’t have any more kids or grandkids, does he? What about those trained bat dogs? What are the rules for them?
Here’s an idea worthy of more discussion, though. And it’s inspired by the World Baseball Classic.
As we discussed at “Breakfast With Benz” a few weeks ago, the pitch clock is a good thing. For the most part, I think it is an effective tool, and I’m glad MLB has implemented it. It has helped cut spring training games down by about 25 minutes per contest. Even if that only translates into 15-20 minutes once the regular season starts, it’ll still be worth it.
But I keep coming back to the point that baseball’s biggest problem isn’t a lack of pace. It’s a lack of stakes. Not enough important games over a 162-game season. Not enough good teams. Not enough meaningful results until the playoffs.
Enter the WBC and some of the exciting games it featured. There was no pitch clock there. And did you notice? Did that epic last at-bat strikeout of Mike Trout by Shohei Ohtani feel like it dragged to you?
I didn’t think so.
In fact, I’d argue a hurried pitch clock may have killed some of the drama. Here is the whole at-bat. You be the judge.
Mike Trout vs. Shohei Ohtani full at bat ‼️ pic.twitter.com/Mm7kQgpTzN
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 22, 2023
Now think of it live. That was a full count at-bat, and it lasted about two and a half minutes from first pitch to strike three, and (live anyway) every second was tension-packed.
Of course, you can’t replicate that kind of environment in every game. But the ninth inning is when stakes are the highest, tension is the thickest, and the game is best when it breathes.
So, I say suspend the pitch clock in the ninth inning of games. Or at least in games that are within four runs at the start of the ninth.
In other words, if even a grand slam in a team’s last at-bat can’t save it, keep the game moving along. If it’s close, just turn the pitch clock off. Or at least extend the time on it to 30 seconds instead of 15 (for bases empty) or 20 (when a runner is on base).
If the game gets to the ninth faster than normal, mission accomplished. The end of any game is when fans are engaged the most anyway.
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Why not? The NFL changes timing, penalty and replay rules with under two minutes left. The NBA lets teams advance the ball to halfcourt with no time coming off the clock with under two minutes left. Why can’t baseball tweak its new clock rules to heighten end-of-game situations?
You know, by, like, turning it off.
Hey, it’s just an idea. I say give it a shot. Experimenting with the clock is the idea in the first place, right? We are walking down the road of this new era of baseball together. And we’re still going to get to the end of games faster.
Just stop to smell the roses in the ninth inning.
But those bat boys? Yeah. For sure. Get those punks moving!
