Very simply, putting pitchers on a clock would move things along. You have x number of seconds to get the sign, get ready, and make the pitch. No fiddling around. Do your job. Oh, and batters are constrained by the pitch clock, too. No stepping out and going through a ridiculous routine with each pitch. Quit screwing around. Get to work.
Those two things would speed matters up quite a bit. But, of course, FOX would merely shoehorn in four more minutes of commercials between innings and then proceed to [ hundin] about how long the games are taking...
I think the pitch clock is definitely part of the path forward.
There’s a good article on it and some other rules MLB has tested out in the minors here…
Breaking down how experimental rule changes affected the minor leagues in 2021.
www.baseballamerica.com
First and foremost is the pitch clock.
The 15-second timer was introduced into Low-A West on June 8, five weeks into the season, and led to a decrease of 21 minutes in the average time of a nine-inning game, as
The Athletic's Jayson Starkfirst reported.
Games from Opening Day through June 7, prior to the implementation of the pitch clock, averaged 3:02. Games from June 8 through the end of the regular season, with the pitch clock enforced, averaged 2:41. As Stark also first reported, the introduction of
the pitch clock also corresponded with an increase in batting average, runs and home runs and a decrease in walks and strikeouts.
—Since 2018,
pitchers at Double-A and Triple-Ahave had a 15-second pitch clock with no one on base and a 20-second pitch clock with runners on.
Despite those restrictions, the length of games
has increased at both levels. The average time of a nine-inning game at Double-A rose from 2:43 in 2017 to 2:55 in 2021. The average time of a Triple-A game rose from 2:55 to 3:04.
There were two fundamental differences that made the Low-A West pitch clock more effective at reducing average game times. The first is there was less time on the clock. The pitch clock rose to 17 seconds with runners on base in Low-A West, compared to 20 seconds at higher levels. Batters were also required to be in the box ready to hit with eight seconds remaining on the clock, compared to seven seconds at higher levels.
The second, and more significant, difference was how the pitch clock was enforced.
Pitchers at Double-A and Triple-A can step off the mound and have the pitch clock reset with no penalty. In Low-A West, stepping off the mound counted as one of the pitcher’s pickoff attempts. He could step off twice and have the clock reset, but the third time he’d be called for a balk.
TRIPLE-A: LARGER BASES
—The larger bases did result in higher stolen base success rates. Runners were successful on 76% of stolen base attempts at the Triple-A levels this season through Sunday. The success rates ranged between 69-72% each season from 2015-19.
DOUBLE-A: SHIFT RESTRICTIONS
—The batting average on balls in play at all Double-A leagues was .309 in 2018 and .305 in 2019. In 2021, with shift restrictions in place, the batting average on balls in play was .307.
With no significant difference in batted ball outcomes by limiting the shift, such restrictions could be unnecessary moving forward. However, Sword noted shifting is less prevalent in the minors, and thus the restrictions may not have been as impactful as they would be in the majors.
HIGH-A: THE STEP OFF RULE
—As happened in the Atlantic League, the step off rule led to an increase in the number of stolen base attempts and stolen base success rates. From 2015-19, teams averaged 2.4 stolen base attempts per game in High-A. In 2021, they averaged just under 2.85 attempts per game. The success rate on stolen bases rose from nearly 68% from 2015-19 to just under 76% this season.
LOW-A: PICKOFF LIMITS
—Teams averaged 2.4 stolen base attempts per game in Low-A in 2018-19. With the new limit in place, they averaged nearly 3.2 steal attempts per game this season. The success rate rose from 68% to 77%.