As the band Imagine Dragons sings, “Welcome to the new age, to the new age”. We witnessed the new age of baseball last week. When Spring Training got underway, pitchers and batters alike were “on the clock”. The new pitch clocks, with their large digits counting down from 15 with the bases empty and 20 with runners on, was very noticeable on every telecast.
It didn’t take long for a violation to take place. The Padres’ Manny Machado was the first to have an automatic strike called against him for being late in the batter’s box. “I’m going to be in the record books.” he said after the game in Peoria, Arizona.
In reality, there is nothing worse than that game of cat and mouse played between hitter and hurler. The former stepping out of the box and the latter, disengaging from the rubber. It’s frustrating to watch and to call as a broadcaster. I remember a time in 2010 when I was with the Padres, our TV broadcaster, the late Hall of Famer Dick Enberg got so sick of a Dodgers’ pitcher lollygagging he exclaimed “throw the ball!”
Enter the pitch clock.
The first weekend of Spring Training broadcasts featured the clock, as expected. Some made light of it, some focused on the impact and others had their games affected by the new clock.
The Padres and Mariners started the spring season with a game at the Peoria Sports Complex. Broadcasters Don Orsillo and Mark Grant began to break down the situation with the first batter of the game, Kolton Wong, facing Padres’ pitcher Nick Martinez.
Don Orsillo: Here we go. 2023. And the first pitch is fouled back to the screen for strike one.
Mark Grant: And Martinez is on the clock.
DO: Yes, he is. We’re talking about all the new players. How about the new rules? Things are gonna happen fast.
MG: Gotta go quicker. Pace of the game. Keep an eye on it. See how guys adjust to pitchers and hitters alike.
DO: Nick Martinez he generally rocks back and forth a little bit. Not quite to the extent that Clevenger did. But that is something they’re keeping an eye on. Basically, you gotta come to a stop is the big thing. You can do all those gyrations, but you gotta stop before you actually deliver.
MG: And you can see the pitch clock right there on the left behind home plate. Here we go.
DO: Gotta go! Here we go.
A good introduction for the fans that are tuning in. They went into further depth later in the game, but that was really all that was needed to me. The shiny new toy got displayed, but there was still a game to be played, exhibition or otherwise, nobody tuned in to get the in’s and out’s of the pitch clock.
The Padres duo got their first taste of a violation in the bottom of the first with Machado batting. It was confusing. I watched it several times and I don’t blame these guys at all for the way it was described.
Orsillo: He pointed to the catcher. The violation was on the catcher. I’m not sure he was in the catcher’s box in enough time. He’s gotta be there with eight seconds remaining. And he pointed to the catcher, to the home plate umpire, Ryan Blakeney there.
Grant: So, there was a ball, right?
Orsillo: So, we gotta keep an eye on these violations. That was a violation. A ball was awarded.
Actually, the violation was on Machado and an automatic strike was called. Blakeney pointed in the direction of the catcher, but did seem to indicate a strike. It was confusing. This is something that MLB and the umpires are going to have to work out so that the signals are clear for everyone.
There was one game in particular that featured something that is very likely to happen in the regular season. I think detractors and proponents wanted to see what would happen in a tie game, bottom of the 9th inning, bases loaded and a full count. Well, everyone got their wish, with Braves batting against the Red Sox.
Plate umpire John Libka ended the game when he issued the automatic strike with the bases loaded, two outs and a full count against Braves second baseman Cal Conley. Libka ruled Conley wasn’t ready to hit in time. Leading to this on the NESN broadcast.
“And now what? He’s out, they have called Strike three. Wow! This is mayhem! Oh, automatic strike three called with the faces loaded in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth. This is baseball in 2023.”
Dave O’brien
Former Major League pitcher Glendon Rusch Tweeted, “How do you score that?” – a question many will ask during the year.
The one thing I did notice was how obtrusive the clocks looked in the Spring Training sites. You couldn’t help but see them. You could see them from the moon. That’s all going to change in the regular season. ESPN’s Jeff Passan’s Tweet answered a lot of questions about where these clocks will be located.
Still there has to be a way for viewers to see the clock. Where is the best place to put it during a broadcast? RSNs chose several different locations. The ones outside the scorebug looked like throwbacks to the old days of the NFL and NBA on television. Some broadcasts worked that awful red digital look into their graphics. It wasn’t good at all. From the photos of many broadcasts from the first weekend, Marquee Sports Network in Chicago was probably the best. It was built in and looked like it belonged.
I was really surprised by the variety of displays. It’s not like this rule suddenly appeared the day before the first spring game, right? Anything new will require experimentation. What we saw last weekend, may not be what we see in the future. Sometimes you have to take a few swings before you connect.
Several RSNs will be experimenting with a couple of designs during the Cactus/Grapefruit League telecasts. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, ESPN says it may display the pitch clock on the back of the pitcher’s mound where some networks display advertising.
For all the hubbub about the clock, the early returns were good in terms of time of game. According to Forbes, between last Friday and Sunday, a total of 35 Spring Training games were played with an average game length of 2 hours and 37 minutes compared to an average of 3 hours and 1 minute for Spring Training in 2022. For those concerned over violations taking over the game, Forbes reported that there was an average of only 1.97 of them per game.
Welcome to the new age, the new age of America’s Pastime. You are now on the clock.
