The pitch clock has been a polarizing topic since being instituted this MLB season.
Some tweaks may be made to the pitch clock in coming years, but it seems like it is here to stay. One group that is surprisingly in favor of the pitch clock is the umpires.
Longtime MLB umpire Jim Joyce joined WEEI’s Rob Bradford on the Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and explained why umpires are “overjoyed” with the pitch clock.
“The thing that I really am excited about and I really enjoy – I’ve talked to a few guys that are working that still know my name and the one thing that they are overjoyed about is the pitch clock,” Joyce said (11:55 in player above). “I know when I talk to my brother back in Ohio, his friends and my friends here actually enjoy that part of how the games have been speeded up.”
While the games have been quicker, some players are worried about the injury risk of such a short recovery time between pitches.
Joyce doesn’t see that, though, as games were usually in the two-to-three-hour range during his early years in the league.
“I really have trouble in my head finding an argument for that,” he continued. “I read some things that there are players out there saying there’s a safety issue. I don’t get it.”
Joyce first started umpiring in 1978 and was called up for his first MLB game in 1986. Twenty years later, a game lasting three-and-a-half hours was the norm.
“I don’t know how we called that normal when we see what’s happening now,” Joyce said.
The former umpire also brought up rule changes that the league attempted to institute during his days. Whether it was keeping a batter in the box, attempting to speed up the pitchers, or something else, it would usually only last a few weeks – if that – before going by the wayside.
That’s not the case with the pitch clock. Although it adds a few things for the umpires to focus on, they’ve been enjoying the shorter games.
“I actually talked to one of the guys right after spring training and he had been talking about how he was looking forward to retirement and stuff like that, and he told me that with this pitch clock, he might not retire,” Joyce recalled. “He said ‘This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to baseball. It’s saving our bodies. It’s saving our knees.”
Joyce did point out that ultimately it will be the players that dictate what happens within the sport, and perhaps that means five seconds or so added to the clock, but it’s apparently extending the careers of umpires and could do the same for players if it all works out.
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