Starting this season, MLB pitchers will have to adjust to a new rule: the pitch clock.
They will be able to take 15 seconds between pitches to start their windup if the bases are empty, and 20 if there are people on base.
If they fail to meet these times, they will be charged with a ball on the count.
Since the count is so important in baseball, no pitcher will want free balls added to it.
In the Los Angeles Dodgers’ training camp, players are already using the pitch clock as a way to start getting acquainted with the new rules.
Corrections will be needed to be executed on time before the start of the season.
Young star and usual Cy Young candidate Julio Urias is one of the hurlers having a hard time with the pitch clock.
“Today in #rules talk: Dave Roberts said Julio Urías would’ve been called for four balls in two innings of work in yesterday’s sim game due to his slower times between pitches (they had the clock going). Will have to be something they continue to adjust as spring progresses,” Dodgers insider Fabian Ardaya tweeted.
Today in #rules talk: Dave Roberts said Julio Urías would’ve been called for four balls in two innings of work in yesterday’s sim game due to his slower times between pitches (they had the clock going). Will have to be something they continue to adjust as spring progresses.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 24, 2023
On four different occasions Urias took more than the established time between pitches.
Such an occurrence in MLB will probably be too costly for his manager not to do something about it.
Fortunately for them, there is still time to adjust.
Still, they will need to correct the issue because the pitch clock is not going anywhere: MLB and the union approved it from 2023 and beyond.
Pitchers should keep up the pace or see their counts negatively affected.
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