The pitch clock has been, without a doubt, the most controversial rule of the new ones introduced by MLB for the upcoming season and future ones.
Baseball has never been played with a time limit for anything, but times are changing.
Hurlers will have 15 and 20 seconds between pitches depending on whether the bases are empty or not.
Hitters, on the other hand, will need to be in the batter’s box by the eight-second mark, or risk having a strike added to the count.
This rule was implemented in minor league baseball last year, but it’s new for MLB.
As you can imagine, it has been a kind of struggle for some players so far.
Still, it’s a matter of time before everyone adapts.
MLB insider Jayson Stark showed some early results from the first few spring training games regarding the new rule.
Here’s another update on the pitch clock:
Average game time this spring: 2:39
Last spring at this point: 3:01
That’s 22 minutes shorter!65 games
113 violations
1.74 per game – almost identical to the 1.73 in the first week in the minors last year85 on pitchers
28 on hitters— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 1, 2023
Per Stark’s data, games have been 22 minutes shorter on average compared to last year’s spring training.
So far, there have been 113 violations in 65 games, about 1.74 per game.
Looking at the big picture, that number is actually not that high.
Between one or two violations in a two-and-a-half-hour game is virtually nothing.
There have been some issues by hitters and pitchers, but players seem to be adapting to their new reality pretty quickly.
Pitchers have been the ones with the most notorious issues beating the clock.
If this study is made in the first month of the regular season, we are sure the number of violations will be even lower.
NEXT:
Cardinals Top Pitching Prospect Had A Solid Spring Debut
