Rangers 1B Nathaniel Lowe On New Rules: 'Pitch Timer is Something'

Before Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe arrived at Surprise, Ariz., for Spring Training, he spent some time at Globe Life Field watching college baseball.

Lowe, who went to Mississippi State, took in the weekend tournament that featured Big 12 and SEC teams.

It was eye-opening for many reasons. One of them was the rules changes that he’ll have to get used do during Spring Training and early this season.

“That pitch timer is something, man,” Lowe said. “It’s going to be an adjustment for sure. When you're telling me that there's a chance that you can totally change count leverage without a pitch being thrown that's going to mess with a lot of the game right there.”

The pitch clock has been the big focus of the rules changes this offseason. It now mirrors what the minor leagues use, and many college conferences are using similar rules.

There will be a 30-second timer between hitters. With the bases empty, pitchers have 15 seconds to start their motion once the ball is returned to them. With runners on base, it becomes 20 seconds.

But it’s more than that. Pitchers may only make two disengagements from the pitching rubber per hitter. Baseball is also putting more of an emphasis on calling the balk in 2023.

But, as Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has talked about this offseason, the onus isn’t just on the pitcher. It’s on the hitter, too. Hitters will get just one time out per at-bat this season.

That could be a significant adjustment for hitters like Lowe.

“Over the years it’s gotten slower with walk-up songs and the things they do, all of that getting in and out of the box, adjusting your gloves, whatever your normal routine is,” Bochy said. “A lot of that has got to stop and you get that one time out. That’s gonna be a big time out for some of them because once you use that, I think the advantage goes to the pitcher.”

Bochy also said that the Major League coaching staff has been learning from the minor league coaching staff about the rules changes. He said the staff told him that it takes players about a month of games to get used to the changes, but to expect some hiccups along the way.

Rangers pitcher Jon Gray was looking forward to his first day with the pitch clock when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday.

“I’m excited to see how it goes,” Gray said. “If I’m way ahead, that’s great. I’m just hoping not to wait until one or two seconds every pitch.”

Lowe got a taste of that last weekend. He knows he has some work to do.

“It's good that they say it's for pace of play, but it's definitely going to be a learning curve,” Lowe said. “It's just what the game is going to call for us to do this year and hopefully in Spring Training we can make the right adjustments to get on track and get ready to go.”

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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