PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Buck Showalter’s spring training musings often veer between amusing and informative with the non sequitur somewhere in the middle. The pitch clock has been a particular point of fascination this spring and he keeps coming back to one question: What does it mean for beer sales?
The veteran skipper has a point: Through Saturday, spring training games are lasting an average of 2:36, down 25 minutes from last spring. That’s 25 fewer minutes to buy beers and concessions.
The pitch clock is to thank for the decrease in time and increase in the pace of play. Pitchers seem to like the new rule and the advantage it gives them to dictate that pace.
The focus of the timer has, naturally, been on the pitchers. But it appears to be the hitters that have the most adjustments to make.
“It can get fast,” Mets’ shortstop Francisco Lindor said before he departed camp to join Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. “The first couple at-bats, it was fast. The one thing I’ve got to remember is to look at the pitcher when there are nine seconds [left].”
Pitchers have 15 seconds in between pitches and 20 if there is a runner on base. Hitters have to be in the box with eight seconds left on the clock and they no longer have the freedom to call timeout and “disengage” from the at-bat. The time-honed routines of tightening the velcro on gloves and taking multiple practice swings outside of the box have to be cut down. The onus is on the hitter to be ready and signal to the pitcher that he is ready by looking directly at him.
“I’m always in the box, but I’m looking at the dugout or looking at the catcher and looking around, then all of the sudden I’m like, ‘Ah!’” Lindor said. “I don’t want to get a strike call because I’m looking at the first baseman. I think I’ll be in the box every time, I just don’t know if I’m going to be looking at the pitcher every single time. I’m sure I’ll get banged for it eventually.”
A pitcher throwing to an unsuspecting hitter with his eyes down can be dangerous. But still, the pitch clock does give pitchers a fair amount of control. We’ve seen Max Scherzer try to stare down hitters as an attempt to throw off their timing on one pitch, only to throw as soon as he was ready the next.
While Mets hitters appreciate the gamesmanship, they’re not about to concede all of the power to their opposition.
“I’m excited that they think they have the advantage,” Mets outfielder Mark Canha said. “That’s a good thing. Let them think that. It’s good. The overconfidence? That’s what I want.”
Canha has historically been a methodical hitter who takes his time outside of the box, but there is no worry that he won’t be able to work with the timer.
Still, there are some nuances of the rule that he’s still figuring out, like getting back to his position in the outfield in 15 seconds after chasing down a foul ball. There was some minor frustration from Mets hitters over the first few weeks of Grapefruit League play, but that was to be expected.
The hitters have to find a mental edge.
“It’s just going to be a lot of mind games,” Canha said. “If you think you have an advantage, I guess maybe it’ll give you an advantage. And if they want to hold the ball, then let them do that. I don’t feel like that’s something that bothers me too much. I don’t want to read too much into it. I think if you let it bother you, it’ll bother you. But I’m not. I’m going to try and do my best to not let it bother me.”
There is another wrinkle in spring that lets pitchers work extra quickly by calling pitches on PitchCom straight from the mound. This allows them to get in the stretch before the hitter is even ready. But this is just a test period and the league may not stick with it long-term.
The possibility for mixups between the pitcher and catcher will always remain, and baseball is about capitalizing on those mistakes.
“If the catcher puts down a sign and the pitcher doesn’t necessarily agree with the pitch that the catcher gives, I think that that gives the hitter a pretty nice advantage because pitchers don’t have time to shake off,” first baseman Pete Alonso said. “And if they don’t want to throw a pitch, and then they’re forced to throw it because of the clock. They may not be as convicted, and that can lead to a mistake in the zone for me.”
The pitch clock has been well received by most in baseball, maybe with the exception of college coaches (Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said it’s “ruining the game” and Arizona State head coach Willie Bloomquist called it “a joke”). The fan experience seems to have been improved as well. A look around Clover Park during a recent Grapefruit League game showed few people looking at their phones for extended periods of time. Fans are engaged and a faster game will draw more engagement.
As for the beer vendors? Maybe they’ll get to call it a night earlier than they used to. The players sure hope they will be doing the same.
“For me, the most important thing is that the game ends quickly,” third baseman Eduardo Escobar said. “You’re going home early.”
