No more will fans have to sit and wait for a pitcher to go through the motions before sending off their next pitch. They will be forced to speed the game up.
The new pitch timer will be in effect this season.
The pitch timer is 15 seconds with the bases empty, and 20 seconds with runners on base. The timer starts the moment the pitcher receives the ball and stops the moment he goes into his motion. Hitters will need to be in the batter’s box with eight seconds on the pitch clock.
If a pitcher has not started “the motion to deliver a pitch” before the expiration of the clock, he will be charged with a ball. If a batter delays entering the box, he will be charged with a strike.
“When you’re in the full motion, you [stop the clock] based off the first movement of your foot,” said Matt Rosenbaum, an FTC based in Arizona. “When you’re in the stretch, some of these guys still like to do their first foot movement, but you’re not stopping the clock until the leg actually lifts. So if you’re focusing specifically on the hips when they’re in the stretch, then you’re not going to stop at the right time.”
This is all meant to speed up the game. The average time of a nine-inning major league game in 2022 was 3 hours, and 4 minutes, which declined from the previous year. However, the time of the game has been rising consistently since first crossing the 3-hour mark in 2014.
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Aside from the pitch clock, the shift rule is also happening this season. Teams will no longer be allowed to use a defensive shift in which three infielders line up on the same side of the field.
Why is this happening? The leaguewide batting average was down to .243 last year, the lowest since 1968.
