A new era has officially started in MLB.
Yes: the pitch clock was.
Of all the rule changes that the league implemented this year, that’s by far the most impactful for the game.
Pitchers are required to work at a quicker pace, and hitters won’t be able to step out of the box and take their time anymore.
In the early days of spring training, we saw a lot of pitch-clock violations.
A lot of them.
But they started to decrease in the later stages of the spring as pitchers got used to the clock.
We can say that there has been an overall adjustment to the new measure.
However, there are still violations here and there.
We already have the first one of the regular season, courtesy of Chicago Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman.
“Marcus Stroman has been called for the first regular season pitch-clock violation in MLB history,” Talkin’ Baseball tweeted.
Marcus Stroman has been called for the first regular season pitch-clock violation in MLB history pic.twitter.com/hqQ1MUmfy4
—Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 30, 2023
It came in the third inning of the game between the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers.
He had Christian Yelich on a 1-2 count, but after the violation, it became 2-2.
If you were wondering how Stroman did with the new rule in place, he did just fine.
He tossed six scoreless innings and conceded just three hits.
With no walks and eight strikeouts, you can firmly say that Stroman, who represented Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, is in midseason form.
He outdueled fellow ace and 2021 NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes, who surrendered four runs in five innings.
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