Major League Baseball

Rob Manfred Talks Pace-of-Play Changes on Hot Stove

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:39 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Keaton Moore/FanSided via Call to the Pen

While appearing as a guest on Hot Stove, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred shared his thoughts on the pitch clock while giving other practical ways to improve the pace of the game.

Nearing his two-year anniversary as the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred joined Hot Stove and discussed ways he hopes to improve the pace-of-play. He believes young fans are scared away by the length of baseball games and seeks ways to tailor the pace of the game to their attention spans. Along with a number of his good ideas, Manfred proposed some that would only slightly impact the length of games.

“There are things that move the game along, without changing the competitive posture,” said Manfred (per MLB.com). “Things like keeping your foot in the box, maybe fewer warm up pitches for a relief pitcher, sending a guy to first base as opposed to throwing. It does not change the competition.”

While these rules sound good on the surface, many might not save as much time as the commissioner hopes. Reinforcing the rule established in 2015 that batter’s cannot take their foot out of the box could shorten the length of each at-bat. In fact, that year the length of games drastically decreased despite the average rising back past three hours the following year in 2016.

Manfred also mentioned the idea of cutting down a reliever’s number of warmup pitches on the mound. Although this change could improve the pace of the game, it could negatively affect a pitcher’s performance. For many pitchers, their warmup is a routine that gives them an ideal rhythm before entering a game. It gives them an idea of what pitches are working and sets them up for their outing. Consequently, with less preparation many usually phenomenal relievers might suffer a shift in success.

Unless taken away all together, both these changes may only save an insignificant amount of time.

Take a Walk

Talk of immediately sending batters to first without throwing any intentional balls proves one of Manfred’s better ideas. This change could shave at least 30 seconds off of the total game time. Moreover, it prevents pitchers from throwing four unnecessary pitches and risking the ball being put into play.

The only downside to his idea is the rarity of intentional walks. Last season, major league pitchers in both leagues averaged only 31 intentional walks through 162 games. The rule works in cases such as Bryce Harper against the Chicago Cubs, but intentional walks are usually rare.

Tick, Tock

Another change Manfred is working towards is calling up the pitch clock from the minor leagues to the major leagues. Since 2015, pitch clocks have been used at the AAA-AA levels of the minor leagues. They came about after a successful trial run in the Arizona Fall League prior to the season. According to MiLB.com, the aforementioned device allowed the pitchers “20 seconds to begin their wind-up or the motion to come to a set position”.

“I really do believe the pitch clock is in that category,” said Manfred (per MLB.com). “It is a constant reminder to players that they need to move along.”

Manfred later admitted that most major league pitchers throw within 20 seconds even without the pressure of a pitch clock. To be more exact, they spent on average 22.6 seconds between pitches in 2016. While it might not seem like much, shaving off two second between each pitch could drastically impact pace-of-play.

Whether or not we see the pitch clock, its presence in the minor leagues will gradually impact the major leagues. The pitch clock trains young pitchers to keep under the 20-second mark and creates a habit that could follow them to the major leagues.

Who Knows?

In any case, any decision regarding the implementation of pace-of-game changes comes down to an agreement between the players and owners. If it truly is a priority, it would have been addressed during the renewal of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Furthermore, any number of variables affect the length of any individual game. As a result, it increases the difficulty of identifying what needs to be changed.

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