Pitch clock may be in MLB future, better to limit it to AAA for now
One of baseball’s most endearing virtues is its soccer-like simplicity. Once you understand the infield fly rule, the rest is easy. Unlike soccer, however, there’s no clock in baseball. There’s crying, occasionally. But never a clock.
In his zeal to quicken the game’s pace for an ever distracted population, Commissioner Rob Manfred is determined to install a pitch clock. He said on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption that’s the change he most desires. “And I’d do it shorter than the 20 seconds we’ve been talking about.”
This is the sort of radical change that’s anathema to baseball purists, who may account for the bulk of the sport’s steadily diminishing fan base. This is not like lowering the mound a couple of inches – which, by the way, Major League Baseball should do, for fewer strikeouts and more plays on the diamond.
This is not like limiting mound visits or number of times the pitcher can lick his fingers or the batter can step out of the box and adjust his cup. Now the commish is messing with the rhythms of the sport. And a sacred principle. This is, after all, the timeless game. Having no clock is fundamental to it.
But, let me take a breath.
I thought the two-line pass would ruin hockey and zone defense would take the drive out of the NBA. I tend to be behind the times in just about everything. And more worried than I should be. I live by the principle of too much ado about not too much.
Perhaps the 59-year-old Manfred with his millennial brain is right, that baseball over the past half-century has slowed to where it’s lost most people’s attention, young and old.
Too many of us who love baseball didn’t put up enough fuss, as the games gradually dragged out longer and longer from an average of 2 ½ hours in 1980 to 3:05 in 2017. Are you kidding me? Nothing should take more than three hours except an ocean cruise.
But for three or four decades ballwriters sat like frogs being slowly simmered to death. We saw the slowdown but didn’t write much about it, didn’t realize its significance.
In the late 1990s I wanted to write about it, but one of my favorite editors, Fred Faour Jr., vetoed me. “Not very sexy,” he said, and steered me elsewhere. I never brought up the subject again at the Houston Chronicle. But now it’s a subject the media cannot ignore, and Manfred deserves credit for that.
Increasing commercialization had much to do with the lengthening of the game. Had to sell beer and cigarettes. And there’s no question the throwers and hitters increased their de facto timeouts between pitches. And of course, managers are managing more. More switches, more defensive shifts, more relief pitchers. And – it had to happen — TV replays.
Manfred presented his 20-second clock to the Players Association, and they stomped on it.
This is the first labor union I’ve seen that opposes cutting the work day with no reduction in pay. Hey guys, it’s free vacation!
Manfred told the players that if they can average a game time of 2:55 per nine innings this season, he will not push for a pitch clock in 2019. So far, the games are averaging 3 hours even. Is it the beginning of a turnaround?
MLB is making sure its minor-leaguers are trained with the clock, a 15-second one in Class AA and AAA games. So it’s logical for Manfred to stay with the 15-second format as these players advance to the majors.
He’s surely correct that a clock “would improve the pace of our game. I think you saw that in the Futures Game ‘cause those guys were so used to doing it.”
At the Futures Game on MLB Network, Harold Reynolds observed: “They’re playing with no clock today, but they’re getting the ball and going. It’s a muscle-memory habit.
“I know everybody’s losing their mind, saying you can’t put a pitch clock in the big leagues, but you may not need to. The game is moving quick.”
Reynolds believes that if ruled by a clock for 3-4 years in the minors, the players will enter the Show with more sense of urgency than we see now. That might continue, even without a clock.
But while fans want games to be quick, they also want frequent scoring, which of course extends the length of the game.
Manfred has complained that bullpens have become too strong. He doesn’t like to see the relief pitchers posting a lower earned-run average than the starting rotations. “They’re so dominant at the back end,” he said, “that they rob action from the end of the game.”
He doesn’t appreciate that in late innings and the score close, good pitching is half of the most dramatic mano a mano action possible in team sports. Power pitcher vs. Ruthian batter. A walkoff homer is more likely to happen now than in any previous decade.
I say leave the bullpens alone. They’re improving the quality of the game and they’re speeding it up. No longer are batters trying so hard to tire out a pitcher, taking pitch after pitch to “get into their ‘pen.” They know they’re likely to face even more heat when the starter leaves.
But Manfred’s job is to make his product more appealing to more people, not just to those of us who watch it as a prelude to sleep. Perhaps there’s benefit to having a commissioner who’s not the most avid fan. He can relate to those who are not fans but could be.
Still, before every big-league ballpark adds a pitch clock, let’s see if Harold Reynolds is right. Keep running the clock in the minor leagues. Maybe that’s as far as it needs to go.