OPINION: The Pitch Clock Will Do More Harm For Baseball Than Good
Baseball is a game almost as old as America itself. It is one of the richest traditions in this country. The rules are simple enough to learn in just a matter of one game.
As in every game, there are little gimmicks that round out the game. For example, try explaining the Infield Fly Rule, or what a balk is, or the concept of tagging-up to someone who is new to the game.
These little nuances make the sport of baseball what it is, and what we have loved for well over a century.
As time moves forward, there is a need for some slight change every now and then. This could mean the shrinking of the strike zone like we saw in 1969, the mandatory helmet rule that was put in effect in 1971, and, more recently, the use of instant replay.
Then there are rules that are questionable at best. One of these is the new pitch clock which Major League Baseball officially introduced this spring training, and will use throughout the 2023 season.
Because of this, the rule has trickled down into the NCAA game. While a pitch clock has been experimented with over the past 10 years, nobody really gave it any thought until it was brought to the Minor Leagues in 2015.
While it may speed up the duration of the game, that is not what the fans are paying for when they go to the ballpark. Going to a baseball game used to be a full afternoon/evening outing that fans looked forward to when they got out of the office for a few hours to forget the world around them.
It was the weekend outing fans looked forward to taking their families to, making memories and spending the day together. Not to say that they cannot do that anymore, but shortening that time lowers the significance of those outings.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in 2022 that adding a pitch clock was a “priority” to regulate the length of play. Quoted saying that it was “the best interest of the fans,” this move seems to be more along the lines of attracting new adult fans who are already set in their ways and are unlikely to watch a baseball game even with the new rule.
Even with this new rule, the overall duration of the games will not change for one reason: television revenue. With every game, the leagues from top to bottom still have to make their money. The easiest way to do that is with commercials. So while the innings themselves will be shortened, the amount of time between innings will more than likely grow.
What Manfred, and frankly all baseball leaders, should really be worried about is the growth of the game with the younger generation. That is what brings this argument to the ultimate point: the game itself, in action.
Just days ago, a spring training game between the Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves ended in a tie because the batter was not set in the box properly by the time limit. Picture for a second had that been the final out of game seven of the World Series. Is that the exciting ending baseball fans want to say before they go five months without baseball?
Our own TCU Horned Frogs had a few run ins with this rule over the past weekend with the Florida State Seminoles. Both teams were caught in violation, and neither side was very happy with any of them. It was a very anticlimactic play that would have been better had the pitcher been allowed to throw the ball.
The suspense of the next pitch is what has made baseball exciting, and what has had fans focused on every pitch. Pitchers need to settle in and focus on where the pitch is supposed to go, and batters need to settle in and focus on the 95 mile per hour fastball that is about to come flying at them.
And yet, baseball executives, at every level, expect this rule to cause more action. It may cause more batters getting hit or walking, at best. But there is also a danger here. Forcing a pitcher to throw that much in that short amount of time could cause a massive spike in arm injuries.
Imagine if Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, or Nolan Ryan had to throw with a pitch clock. With the amount of pitches those hall of famers threw per game, it is feasible to assume that their careers could have ended a lot sooner if they did not have those few extra seconds in between pitches to rest and reset.
For years, fans, pundits, and even executives have voiced their fears about the rise of arm injuries. Now it almost seems like something that just happens every year and fans are supposed to just accept that. But if everyone is so worried about arm injuries for pitchers, why are executives shortening the amount of time they have to throw? Why are they more concerned about a man in his 30’s not being a fan, than about the safety and ability of their most important player?
This rule will ultimately do nothing but endanger the players themselves, and cheapen the product of a game that the nation was once so captivated by. This rule will likely crash and burn before the game does, but it does not help the case for the sport.
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