MLB trying to pick up pace of play

[Ray McKigney]

Interested to see what they come up with.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12165852/mlb-trying-pick-pace-play

 

 

[DW711]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Guest]

Leave the game alone.

[WallyWorld]

i'm generally not bothered by the pace of the game currently, but one area I'd like to see them address is having the umpires enforcing the clock on pitchers between pitches. There's a few Beckett-like guys out there that take forever and make the games unbearable.

[TeemuTrout]

Yeah, I don't think they have to insert a pitch clock or anything, but they should punish/discourage pitchers who take way too long between pitches, and limit the amount of times a batter can call timeout during an at-bat. Too often, a pitcher will stand and look at signs for 45 seconds, and then the batter calls time-out, pitcher takes 20 seconds, batter calls another time-out, and all of a sudden 2 minutes have gone by between pitches. It's absurd.

[CaliAngel]

One of the most glaring problems is having to wait for TV to give the OK to start pitching. If there were no TV to wait for, or if TV breaks cut off to the game as soon as the pitcher was ready, I bet time between innings could get down to under 2 minutes.

 

And of course one of the most annoying things that slows down the game is the effing Boston and Yankee style pitchers that take a full minute plus between each and every pitch. It's freakin' ridiculous how long playoff games have dragged on because these guys delay the game over and over after every pitch.

 

I don't want them to make rules that change the pace of the game, I want them to get the distractions out of the way, and I want the players to speed up the game on their own if they want the sport to continue to draw in young fans. It's really in the hands of the players if MLB is going to have to start making rules to speed up the game.

[SoWhat]

About time. It's extremely annoying having to wait for a batter to adjust his batting gloves after every pitch.

Last season there was an AB by Calhoun where he took a little over a minute to adjust has battling gloves and take some swings, I shut off the tv and went to bed.

It'd be nice if they implemented a rule to pick up the pace of game as soon as this year.

Edited January 15, 2015 by SoWhat

[Angel Oracle]

Yeah, I don't think they have to insert a pitch clock or anything, but they should punish/discourage pitchers who take way too long between pitches, and limit the amount of times a batter can call timeout during an at-bat. Too often, a pitcher will stand and look at signs for 45 seconds, and then the batter calls time-out, pitcher takes 20 seconds, batter calls another time-out, and all of a sudden 2 minutes have gone by between pitches. It's absurd.

This plus the incessant catcher visits to the mound

[WallyWorld]

This plus the incessant catcher visits to the mound

 

though in truth, catcher visits have gone down by 78% since Jorge Posada retired.

[LAAMike]

We were all doomed to longer at bats when Velcro batting gloves were started.

[eligrba]

Start the game at the third inning.

[KevinJ14]

Honestly dont think that the batting gloves thing is a problem.  As a former player, it was necessary to "reset" after every pitch to avoid getting stiff in the batter's box.  I do however think they should change the intentional walk to 1 pitch.

[ELEVEN]

Anything to be able to squeeze more commercials intothe time slot.

[Angelsfirst]

In before first CJ nibbling joke.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

The intentional walk needs to be reduced to 1 pitch. Declare you're going to IBB the batter, throw one, and let him go. Making the pitcher throw 4 pitches is absurd.

[QuinlansMinion]

As long as the games last 3 hours, im fine with it.  

 

It would be cool to see a pitch clock though.  

Edited January 15, 2015 by QuinlansMinion

[Angel Oracle]

We were all doomed to longer at bats when Velcro batting gloves were started.

Nomah approves of this.

[Angel Dog and Beer]

This is going to mess with my internal clock, because I can get things done in between pitches. Like make dinner, wrestle with the kids, crack a beer, etc.  Might need to speed up my routine.

[Blarg]

Nomar was an asshole and deserved to be plunked every at bat for validating stepping out of the box after every pitch to go through his ritual. Calhoun is just as big of a time wasting jerk in that way.

I saw them employ the pitch clock in the AFL and it worked flawless. One batter had a strike called because he wasted too much time with his glove ritual and one pitcher was charged a ball for nut scratching too long before getting set.

I can see pitchers, batters and managers losing their shit the first month and after a dozen elections the game gets used to not dawdling.

Someone mentioned the length of games in the 70's and if you watch them pitchers look in, nod and deliver. The batters don't wander off and a ball is replaced rarely if ever. There wasn't time for announcers to recite the Valley View Lobster buffet winner between pitches, which made the game more interesting.

Edited January 15, 2015 by notti

[ABC]

The intentional walk needs to be reduced to 1 pitch. Declare you're going to IBB the batter, throw one, and let him go. Making the pitcher throw 4 pitches is absurd.

 

The IBB does not add significantly to length of game. It builds drama and weird things can happen. Plus the pitcher now has to compose his mechanics and confidence to face the new batter which is more difficult to do after four pitches.

[ABC]

Fix three things:

 

- Number of mound visits.

- Time between pitches.

- Batter wandering and wardrobe adjustments.

[Angel Oracle]

Nomar was an asshole and deserved to be plunked every at bat for validating stepping out of the box after every pitch to go through his ritual. Calhoun is just as big of a time wasting jerk in that way.

I saw them employ the pitch clock in the AFL and it worked flawless. One batter had a strike called because he wasted too much time with his glove ritual and one pitcher was charged a ball for nut scratching too long before getting set.

I can see pitchers, batters and managers losing their shit the first month and after a dozen elections the game gets used to not dawdling.

Someone mentioned the length of games in the 70's and if you watch them pitchers look in, nod and deliver. The batters don't wander off and a ball is replaced rarely if ever. There wasn't time for announcers to recite the Valley View Lobster buffet winner between pitches, which made the game more interesting.

And if a batter stepped out in the 60s and 70s, they likely knew where the next pitch was headed.  

Especially if Gibson, Marichal, or Drysdale was pitching.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Angel Oracle

[Erstad Grit]

In the high school league I umpire in the batters must at all time (unless a play is happening, ie: passed ball etc) keep one foot in the box. We are instructed to call a strike if they completely walk outside the box. 

 

This still allows the batter to step one foot out to slow the pitcher down, collect his thoughts, look for coaching signs, read the defense, ect. It does move a lot faster than the batter taking a walk. 

 

It has worked great, I love it. 

[Troll Daddy]

Managers need to make a quicker decision on play review challenges.

10 seconds

[Dave Saltzer]

I am all in favor of speeding up the game by doing the following:

 

1) requiring all batters to keep a foot in the batters box (with a penalty strike being called if the batter wanders off--and an exception allowed if the batter has to jump out of the way of a ball);

2) instituting a 20 second pitch clock starting the moment the pitcher gets the ball (with the penalty being a ball is called);

3) reducing the pitcher's pitch clock by 2 seconds for every throw or fake throw to a base made (again with the penalty being a ball is called).

 

What I think really drags the game down is all the relievers who come in, take about a minute to get the signs, shakes off 5 signs (even though they only have 2 pitches), makes 5 throws over to first base, etc. Get the sign and pitch. Get the out out at the plate. If you throw over to first, you know what you want to throw so throw it. You don't need to go through 5 signs again.

 

I would love to see a breakdown of the amount of time spent by inning. My guess is that innings 6-8 are the slowest, and that's when the pitching changes generally occur and the relievers start slowing the game down.