On a podcast the other day the conversation turned to the necessity of showing the pitch clock counting down on the screen so the viewer is always aware. I'm hoping they don't plan on keeping on it the screen the whole time. Maybe they can just show it once it gets down to five seconds, like they do in football when the play clock is close to expiring?

The best I’v seen so far is having the pitch clock added to the screen at the 7 second mark, when the batter is supposedly set, and the pitcher has just a short time to deliver the ball. I think that was a YES broadcast, but not sure.

I haven’t noticed much different about the broadcasts except when they are explicitly talking about the pitch clock. It’s really cool when I see the game is an hour old and they’ve already reached the 5th inning.

The broadcasts I've watched have the pitch clock displayed, but its part of the standard score bug or whatever you call it, with score, count, outs, etc., so it is unobtrusive.

If a large pitch clock was always in the lower corner of the screen, that would stink.

The Jays seem to have shifted it into the bug with the score/count/pitches/whatever in it as well. Works well, as I look at it now more because I expect screw ups to happen but will have it disappear in my mind at times while watching.

Just returned from a week in Florida. Attended five games and was surprised that almost every game came in around 2:30. Found myself watching the pitch clock in CF out of the corner of my eye a lot. I'm guessing the in person experience will evolve for fans so that the pitch clock is just kind of in our heads and we don't look at the clock too much. Hope the TV experience is similar, because I don't relish the idea of seeing a clock counting down on the screen all the time.

From my personal experience the clock fades into the background at the ballpark for me. I've seen broadcasts with a big clock in the lower right corner starting from 15 or 20. I agree, that looks crappy and is annoying, They should just pop it in at 7 seconds like the Yes broadcast does.

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My one worry about this is that, as far as I can tell from watching spring training games, batters are still allowed to call timeout (which the ump invariably grants) and step out pretty much whenever they like. If that's not firmly and officially curtailed, I could see them making a regular habit of it and dragging the games back toward three hours. And it's a practice that's preferential to hitters (I greatly doubt a pitcher would be granted timeout to reset the clock), which would get pitchers whining, which could persuade MLB to say the hell wit it and throw the whole thing out.

batters can only call timeout once per at-bat.

I actually did not know that--still far too much, they should not be granted time-out at all unless in obvious duress, but that's still a Good Thing.

one batter used up his timeout almost immediately against Scherzer, who basically froze him in the box for the rest of the AB. I think many hitters may dispense with them altogether unless it is indeed necessary.

Yeah, much like any other use them or lose them timeouts or challenges, we might see batters calling timeout pretty much every PA. But they can deal with that next year if it's a problem.

So what was average time between pitches in MLB last year?

About three weeks.

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“We are covering a different sport now,”

I believed it is spelled hyperbole.

Seriously, its w*nkers like this complaining about a better product that will give a fraction of people a reason to whinge about the better pace. ITS THE SAME F*CKING GAME BUT WITH LESS WASTED TIME. Move the f*ck on.

It’s going to take some adjustments but 18 got it. I mean I’ll miss the mid batter T-Mobile ads as much of the next guy but we will soldier on.

In all seriousness, they probably will need to change the emotional tenor of the broadcast from "golfer lining up a putt" to "midseason college basketball".

But that's a big improvement!

I believed it is spelled hyperbole.

Seriously, its w*nkers like this complaining about a better product that will give a fraction of people a reason to whinge about the better pace.

This is actually FAR more hyperbole (or just inaccurate if you prefer) than what it was reacting to.

I didn't read any whining in the article, I read professionals realizing that they are going to have to change the way they do their jobs. At most they are concerned about their ability to do it effectively.

One timeout per at bat isn’t too much. I think the 15-second clock may be a beat too fast. (I’ve read 18 might be ideal).

However, the true test is when the first superstar pitcher gets injured and blames the pitch clock. (Not enough time for muscle recovery between pitches.) Will the backlash force some accommodation? Probably not, but it could be interesting.

That's probably true. Of course, superstars have been getting injured all along without any constraint on how fast they have to work, but logic may not prevail in their rhetoric when they do now.

On the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast Rich Hill said he wanted 5 seconds added to the clock because it just isn't enough time, which I took as general whining. I thought he did have a point that umpires should have some discretion on when to restart the clock after a play. Hill's example was the pitcher backing up plays at 3rd or home, then being expected to be back on the mound within 15 seconds and then pitch within another 15 seconds. He'd heard that in the minors the umpires had and used that discretion, but in spring training he hasn't seen it yet. I think that's fair.

I also agree with him in principle that it sucks if games are decided by something other than a competitive act. He was pointing that principle toward clock violations, but, like, a game being decided by fan interference also sucks. Although I agree on principle, I see a refusal to compete as being within bounds of competition. If a game is decided because a batter chose not to run out a grounder, that's not ideal and I'd be mad if I rooted for that team; but that's a choice by a competitor in the game, and thus it's a legitimate way for a game to be decided. Clock violations are a new choice, and to me it's just as legitimate a way for a game to be decided.

15 seconds is too many. It's only timing to the first movement of the pitcher's foot to begin his windup/delivery. It ought to be 8 seconds without runners on/12 with. But this is a great and massively needed step in the right direction.

I also agree with him in principle that it sucks if games are decided by something other than a competitive act.

True, but not one percent as much as players having an attitude that the fans are irrelevant sucks.

That's a good argument, villageidiom. Competitive acts are always defined by the rules of the competition. Extremely far back in the day, strikes existed but balls didn't, so the institution of a called ball (towards a base on balls) incorporated a choice into the competition (to throw wide, or not to swing at a wide pitch) that was not originally a competitive act either. And one could probably say the same about lots of new rules in many sports.

However, the true test is when the first superstar pitcher gets injured and blames the pitch clock. (Not enough time for muscle recovery between pitches.) Will the backlash force some accommodation? Probably not, but it could be interesting.

Did anything change after Tyler Glasnow blamed his injury on the sticky stuff ban a couple years ago?

However, the true test is when the first superstar pitcher gets injured and blames the pitch clock. (Not enough time for muscle recovery between pitches.) Will the backlash force some accommodation? Probably not, but it could be interesting.

I think back to what Jim Kaat once said, on why he pitched so fast. He felt like once he started, he was going to be tired out say, 2 hours later. Was not particularly concerned about innings or pitch count, just time spent out on the mound. So he got as much of the game packed into those hours as he could.

He felt like once he started, he was going to be tired out say, 2 hours later. Was not particularly concerned about innings or pitch count, just time spent out on the mound.

Ok, but what he felt wasn't actually how things work.

Think you might be overlooking fast acting greenies.

I barely ever noticed the clock the one game I attended with one (in Columbus in 2019), but I think the minor-league rules were slightly different and also the clock was 20 seconds. Game sure moved along, though. I do think that 15 might be a little quick and they might eventually settle on 18 or 20.

As for seeing it on the screen, I don't feel any need to see it at all. If they call a violation, they call a violation, but I don't care if the clock was at 7 or 5 or 2 or 1 when the pitch was delivered, so why do I need it? It would just be a distraction.

Also I think it's unfair to call Jason Benetti a w*nker or a whinger. He's a solid pro, one of the best in the business as far as I'm concerned, trying to adjust to a fairly massive change in his job conditions. If he says it's a different game as far as doing his job, I'm inclined to believe him. He'll adjust, though, as will the broadcast business as a whole, as will the players.

Yeah, it's a difference to how the broadcasters do their jobs, but what it really means is that it gives them less time to fit in promos and ads while making it very clear how to gamble on games in case we didn't know how to do that.

Or to show meaningless SSS graphics, like how Player X batted such-and-such over the past 13 day games when in an 0-1 count against a left-handed pitcher after having cereal for breakfast that morning.

My feeling is that what I am interested in is the game itself, and not the promos and ads or the gambling come-ons, so perhaps reducing the volume of those is a good thing? So far I see no downside.

On the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast Rich Hill said he wanted 5 seconds added to the clock because it just isn't enough time, which I took as general whining. I thought he did have a point that umpires should have some discretion on when to restart the clock after a play. Hill's example was the pitcher backing up plays at 3rd or home, then being expected to be back on the mound within 15 seconds and then pitch within another 15 seconds. He'd heard that in the minors the umpires had and used that discretion, but in spring training he hasn't seen it yet. I think that's fair.

Hill is nearly as old as I am so I sympathize. It takes me 15 seconds to mentally prepare myself to get off the couch and another 15 seconds to loosen up all the joints enough to move. So I'm all for modifying the rule to give guys over 40 an extra 5-10 seconds per pitch.

I cannot wait to hear less of the banter from the booth. There will be less, right? Right???