NEWSLETTER
From where I sat this year, the pitch clock was a runaway success. The games felt more action-packed, moments felt more urgent, and everything just proceeded with so much less dead time. The overall length of games were reduced, too, which I know is also important for some folks. For me, it’s about the more consistent stream of action, but either way, the vast majority of fans were happy.
As for players, some beefed about it from the jump, but by and large, it just seemed completely fine within a month. The pitch clock violations evaporated to about nothing, and it just became a seamless, rarely-even-mentioned part of the game. That’s exactly what we were hoping for, and I suspect most players are now pretty much fine with it.
So, if you found something that was working well … why not tinker with it! That’s MLB’s plan anyway:
In short, things started stretching back out a bit in the second half of the season, and the league would like to avoid seeing that become an issue in 2024. So, then, chop a couple seconds off the on-base clock, and maybe we see things continue to be very successful. The bases-empty clock would stay at 15.
We’ll see if this goes anywhere, but you are reminded that the league has six seats on the competition committee (players have four, umpires have one), and can ram through anything they really want. You are reminded that, now that PitchCom devices are ubiquitous, the time-related distinction between bases empty and runners on base has definitely been reduced, if it exists at all. Some folks have proposed just a uniform clock for all situations, somewhere in the 16 to 18 second range. I wonder if that ever becomes a possibility.
Per Passan’s report, the players are going to consider the proposal and come back with their thoughts. Obviously the concern would be the potential impact on pitcher arm health. Pitch clock proponents have largely responded to this concern by pointing out that there hasn’t been a correlation in the minor leagues, and if less time to reset means a reduction in velocity (so that pitchers better protect themselves), the league likely wouldn’t hate that.
One data point in Passan’s report that I didn’t realize, and definitely points in favor of having some flexibility to further reduce the clock: “On average, pitchers began their deliveries with 6.5 seconds remaining on the 15-second clock and 7.3 seconds left on the 20-second clock.”
