Pitch clock decreases game time but players union skeptical of use in majors

Three batters into his major league debut, Milwaukee Brewers starter Zach Davies was working quickly. Twice while Andrew McCutchen batted against him for the first time, McCutchen stepped out of the batter’s box and called time.

“It’s something that he was used to,” Pirates reliever Rob Scahill said. “He wants to work fast to stay within the clock and, obviously, we don’t have that here.”

Davies’ Sept. 2 debut was his first start of the year when he wasn’t subject to the 20-second pitch clock, an experiment that began in the Arizona Fall League and continued at the Class AA and AAA levels this year. As Major League Baseball tries to increase the pace of play, they installed pitch clocks in the minors in addition to the measures enacted in the majors this season.

Pitchers have 20 seconds after receiving the ball from the catcher to begin their delivery or at least come to a set position. If they don’t, the batter is awarded a ball. Batters must be in the box and alert to the pitcher with at least five seconds remaining or they receive an automatic strike.

The minor league seasons are either done or in the postseason at this point, and the effect of the timers is apparent. Through mid-August, according to the New York Times, nine-inning game times decreased by 15 minutes in the International League (2:56 to 2:41) and Pacific Coast League games took 13 fewer minutes on average.

“I thought the games went a little quicker than in years before because of that,” said Pirates left-handed reliever Bobby LaFromboise, who spent the majority of the season with the International League’s Indianapolis Indians, the Pirates’ Class AAA affiliate. “Didn’t have guys just wandering around the mound. You’ve got to get the ball and get back, step on the mound and start getting your sign.”

Scahill, who saw the clocks on his rehab assignment, and LaFromboise agreed that the pitch clock affected batters more than pitchers. Early in the season, Indianapolis lost some balls and strikes because of violating the pitch clocks, but not so much as the year progressed. Josh Harrison, who also experienced the clocks on a rehab assignment, offered another benefit the pitch clocks afforded young players.

“You’ve got a fresh guy who’s 21 in (Class AAA), he makes a bad pitch, he doesn’t have time to walk around the mound,” Harrison said. “He’s got to get back out there, go about his business. That’s what you see big leaguers up here do. They make a bad pitch, they get the ball back and they’re ready to go.”

Sometimes the clocks were on, sometimes they weren’t for rehabbing major leaguers Scahill, Harrison and Jordy Mercer, though they tried to ignore it and focus on their at-bats. Mercer, though, heard about it from one of the umpires when he wasn’t in the box on time.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was pleased with the results of the experiment, saying at the All-Star Game, “We remain positive about the 20-second clock that it could be useful to the game at the big league level.”

Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark, and players, lacks that same optimism.

“Hear me very clearly on this one,” Clark said at the All-Star Game. “When you add the third deck in the major leagues, when you add all the other moving pieces tied to a major league game, the idea that a particular rule in Double-A or Triple-A or Single-A or the fall league ... worked into the system there means that it will automatically work at the big leagues is not true.”

Harrison did not think a pitch clock was necessary in the majors and said the current measures which limit time between innings and during pitching changes, and require batters to keep a foot in the box with some exceptions are enough.

“Sometimes pitchers need to see multiple signs more than once,” he said. “Night games, sometimes can’t see the fingers. If they got a ball because they couldn’t see the signs, you know, hey, that’s all it would take for somebody they might not finish that outing.”

Asked if he thought it would work in the majors, LaFromboise said, “That’s a good question,” and paused.

“The game’s a lot harder up here. Guys are thinking a lot more, bigger stakes up here.”

As Davis demonstrated, pitch clocks will at least influence the next wave of young major leaguers who reach the majors programmed to play with a timer.

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