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Minor league hitters, be warned: Take too long in the batter’s box, and you could be sent back to the dugout.
Midland RockHounds infielder Jordan Diaz found that out the hard way on Monday when he was issued an automatic strike in a 2-2 count by the home plate umpire, and thus became a strikeout victim without even seeing a pitch.
The whole ordeal was bizarre:
The minor leagues have become a sort of training ground for experimenting with new rules, including one that requires batters to keep a foot in the box at all times during an at-bat. Pitchers must deliver a pitch within 14 seconds with bases empty and 18 seconds with runners on, but batters must also be ready to hit within nine seconds left on the pitch clock.
In the video, you can see that Diaz keeps a foot in the box the entire time. Seven seconds elapse from when the pitcher receives the ball to when the umpire steps out to issue a called strike. Diaz has two feet in the box by this time, but apparently wasn’t deemed ready to hit.
For years, baseball has tried to speed up the pace of play, and the use (and enforcement) of a pitch clock would certainly be an effective way to cut down on game times. While the idea is good in theory—and even in practice, as average game times in the minor leagues have decreased by 20 minutes—Monday’s incident shows that there’s still a good bit of fine tuning needed to ensure players don’t lose an at-bat in this way.
