Cardinals’ Willson Contreras Got Burned by the Pitch Clock in the Most Brutal Way

This was a weird way to strike out.

The start of the 2023 Major League Baseball season is quickly approaching, which means players in spring training still have some time to not only get themselves ready for the real games, but also to get more used to the many new rules that will be put in play this year. 

One of those rules is the pitch clock - pitchers have 15 seconds between pitches with nobody on base and 20 seconds with somebody on base. Batters must be ready to go at the eight-second mark or they will get called for an automatic strike. 

The Cardinals’ Willson Contreras got a tough pitch clock lesson during a game on Monday when he was ruled not ready by that eight-second mark and received a strike, which was the third strike in his at-bat and sent him back to the dugout. 

Here’s how it played out: 

here's what the timer was showing pic.twitter.com/JwTLvJXRhE

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 20, 2023

Yeah, this is going to take some time to get used to. 

MLB fans had reactions: 

pretty easy case that a foul ball should at least relax this https://t.co/B5nPoJ0SuM

— jesse spector (@jessespector) March 21, 2023

@Nomar5 imagine if they had this rule when you were playing. https://t.co/M1uiv8LB9g

— Chuy Gutierrez (@Chewy714) March 21, 2023

These things still happen every day. But the data shows everyone is adjusting as expected.

Violations per game:
1st week - 2.03
2nd week - 1.49
3rd week - 1.13
4th week (thru Sun) - 1.03

Very similar to the pattern in the minor leagues last year, which stabilized after 6 weeks. https://t.co/ZvtKr11y7f

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) March 21, 2023

This is SO good for the sport, I'm sure EVERYBODY that didn't watch baseball six months ago now will be lining up to get season tickets because a batter strikes out without getting a chance to swing the bat https://t.co/wM5BKHPrQ6

— Justin Nicosia (@justinnicosia20) March 21, 2023