GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The pitch clock has arrived in Major League Baseball. It’s here to stay, and that’s a wonderful thing, no matter how loudly people howl on Twitter or anyplace else about the end of Saturday’s Braves-Red Sox game in Florida.
Bottom of the ninth, tie game, bases loaded, two out, full count. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? Of course when Braves minor league outfielder Cal Conley (of Texas Tech) was called for a violation of the pitch clock — he wasn’t looking at the pitcher when the clock struck eight! — the game was over, ending in a tie.
Now imagine if it wasn’t a tie game. And imagine it’s the regular season. Or, as Rangers Manager Bruce Bochy said Sunday morning, “I can’t imagine if it’s the seventh game of the World Series and you walk off like that. You’d have a lot of stunned people.’’
Stunned is a polite word if a clock violation ever costs a team a World Series. Thus, there was the predictable outrage from those who believe the sanctity of the game has been violated with the addition of a ticking clock on every pitch.
It sounds worse than it is. And, to be honest, it’s pretty great. The game that had been brought to a halt in the last generation by players fiddling with their batting gloves after every pitch (thank you, Derek Jeter, and so many others) is back up to speed. An inning starts and the action begins. Pitchers aren’t stalling, stepping off the rubber and asking for a new set of signals. Hitters have to be fully invested once they step into the box.
And here are the results:
Rangers lose their first spring game to Kansas City, 6-5. Two hours, 33 minutes.
Rangers lose their second spring game to Kansas City, 10-5, a contest that even includes an injured Royals outfielder and mid-inning pitching change. Two hours, 29 minutes.
Are you kidding me? For the last 20 years, major league teams struggled to reach the seventh-inning stretch in 2:29. When you attend Rangers games this season, you can prepare to head for your car at 10:00 and not because it’s a school night and you’re leaving in the top of the eighth. It’s because the game will be over.
For those who still want three hours for their money, the Rangers and Guardians almost provided it Sunday. In a 13-4 Texas victory, the teams combined for 17 runs and 24 hits and finished in 2:49.
”There’s a lot of nice things about the clock, it’s working really well for the pace of the game,’‘ Bochy said. “You want to play guys 5-6 innings here, it goes by fast. The worst thing is they’re not going to sell as many beers.’’
Actually, he raises a fair topic and one the media, confined to the press box, ignores. In the last few years, I have attended games with my kids at Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, Nationals Park and Fenway Park. You go to the concession stands expecting to miss an inning, maybe an inning-and-a-half no matter the venue. Better make that two innings in 2023.
The pitch clock sets at 15 seconds when the ball gets to the pitcher’s mound — 20 when there are men on base. At the 8-second mark, the batter has to be “aware of the pitcher.” That’s the rule Conley violated although the catcher was standing up at the time, so he thought he was safe since the ball clearly wasn’t coming home that second.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said he completely agreed with the call. The days of killing time in the batter’s box are over.
”I talked to our guys today about that play, the catcher’s standing up and they’re not ready to throw the ball. That was quite the scenario,’’ Bochy said. Might even become a trick play in the regular season (that was not the case Saturday), but hitters and pitchers are learning quickly that this thing is serious.
There have actually been eight violations in the Rangers’ first three games, but all have been simply balls or strikes in the middle of an at-bat.
Still, when the regular season begins, the presence of a clock will be much less noticeable than the absence of a defensive shift. The Rangers hammered out 15 hits Sunday and produced five singles the first time through the lineup. A well-struck ball over the infield but short of the outfielders is no longer hauled in by a second baseman playing 40 feet out into the grass.
”You’re going to see a lot more hitting this year, that’s for sure,’’ Bochy said. “A hard ball up the middle is a hit this year.’’
Enjoy the hits, embrace the rapidly moving game and put those fears about a World Series game ending on a clock violation to rest. Minor leaguers figured this stuff out in a few weeks last year. Major leaguers will get the hang of it in a hurry.
