Bring On The Chaos: MLB Officially Votes To Implement a Pitch Clock in 2023, Along With Banning Defensive Shifts And Using Larger Bases

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The pitch clock era is about to begin in the big leagues and after reading the rules it's going to be very interesting to see how players adapt. Defensive shifts are also being eliminated which will surely increase hitting throughout the league. In addition, we'll also be getting bigger bases to increase safety and decrease collisions. 

Easily the most complex rule change here is the pitch clock. I wrote about this recently with how big of a success it's become in AAA, shrinking average game times to about 2.5 hours. 

While that may be, that does not mean this is going to go smoothly in the beginning. In fact, the players unanimously voted against the pitch clock today, they were just outnumbered. Naturally when you're told to do your job quicker you're not going to like it. This vote is strictly for the fans and viewing experience improvement. Makes sense the players weren't thrilled. 

So what are the rules for the pitch clock? Rosenthal did a full breakdown here on The Athletic. I'm going to pick out the main points and highlight them here. For starters the clock will be set to 15 seconds per pitch with no one on base and 20 seconds with someone on. 

The timer starts when the pitcher has the ball, and the catcher and the batter are in the dirt near home plate and play is ready — meaning, runners have retreated if there was a foul ball, or exited the field after an out. (The pitch timer starts with the second pitch of the game.)

Pitchers who violate the clock are charged with an automatic ball. If a catcher violates the clock, an automatic ball is charged as well. Batters in violation receive an automatic strike. Umpires can also award a ball or strike if they detect a player circumventing the clocks, and the commissioner’s office could issue discipline beyond that to teams whose players or staff violate rules, as well. 

Pitchers can step off the mound for a pickoff or any other reasons — a “disengagement” it’s called — twice per plate appearance if there is a runner on base. But, if a runner advances during the same plate appearance, i.e., by stealing a base, the pitcher gets another two step-offs. Stepping off resets the clock to its full time (20 or 15 seconds depending on whether a runner is on).

If a pitcher steps off a third time or more, the penalty depends on what happens. If the runners are safe, the pitchers are charged with a balk. If an out is recorded, like on a successful pickoff, no balk is charged. No balk is charged if a runner advances, either.

When I wrote that blog above, my biggest point of curiosity was base stealing. Now with the rules in front of us it's clearly going to be an interesting spot to look into. If you step off the mound or throw over that counts as a "disengagement." You are allowed to do that twice per batter, free of charge. Now if you throw over for a third time and the runner gets back safely that's a balk. If you throw over and pickoff the runner that's still an out, but you have to get him otherwise they advance the base. 

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Josh Suchon, the play-by-play radio announcer for the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Rockies’ Triple A affiliate says stolen bases haven't gone up as a result of the rule change. 

Now I don't want to be rude to Josh, but the numbers say otherwise. Here are the last three years' stolen bases per game 

2019: 2.23
2021: 2.52
2022: 2.85 

Stolen bases are fun and exciting, but have seemingly gone away from the game over time. You're going to see more steals and that's a good thing.  Baseball is about to turn the boring pickoff play that is typically met with boos to now a very tense, fascinating moment. Just think about when a runner safely beats back that second pickoff throw. Now we're talking potential chaos for the next 20 seconds. If you have a bad pickoff move and were instead relying on strategies like freezing runners or constantly keeping them honest with non-competitive throws, well you're kinda fucked now. You best be taking time this offseason to learn a better pickoff move. 

Aside from the base paths, it'll be interesting to watch pitchers pick up the pace. According to Baseball Savant, the league average for pitchers with men on base is 23.3 seconds compared to 18.1 while they're empty. 

Just to give you an idea, here are the top 20 slowest paces with bases empty this year. Some pretty big names are going to need to drastically speed it up. 

And with men on base

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Frankie Montas LMAO fuck me in the face

If you talk to pitchers who aren't typically slow to the plate they'll tell you it's the hitter's fault for the pace dragging. While pitchers are going to have adjust here, so will those hitters who take all the fucking time in the world between each pitch. 

Defensive shifts are done

In 2013 there were 6,882 shifts made by MLB teams. In 2021 that number rose to 59,062. We are done with that nonsense.

When the pitcher releases the ball, a minimum of four players (besides the pitcher and catcher) must have both feet completely in front of the outer boundary of the dirt, and two fielders have to be entirely on either side of second base.

Every team has to designate two infielders on each side of second base who may not switch sides during the game, except if there’s a substitution for one of those infielders.

The penalty for violations is a ball to the current batter. I don't know about you, but I liked the days where a ball hit sharply up the middle was an actual base hit or the defense made an absurd out of this world play to get the out. It's so boring and annoying when a guy is standing directly over second base and easily robs the hitter. I'm fascinated to see what hitters add 50 points to their average because there's no longer 7 guys playing to the right side. Two guys who immediately pop into my head that will greatly benefit from the erasing of the shift? Joey Gallo (assuming he learns to make contact again) and Anthony Rizzo. Those guys get robbed with line drives to shallow right field because the shortstop is playing over there. 

Bigger Bases

No brainer. It'll help guys steal bases and limit collisions. I'd love to find the one person out there in the world who is visibly upset to see the bases get bigger. There has to be someone. 

TLDR; it's going to be a wild scene next year watching MLB players adjust to these rules. We're going to get chaos, but eventually they'll make the adjustment and it'll become infused in the sport. Overall, this is going to be a very good thing for baseball and I'm excited to see it get going in 2023.