(SportsRadio 610) - It’s an extremely small sample size thus far, but the significance of MLB’s new pitch clock is not lost on the Astros, particularly slugger Kyle Tucker.
“If that’s how it’s going to be, you’re just going to have to figure out a way,” Tucker said. “But, it’s a little tough right now.”
That’s exactly how it’s going to be, especially for the foreseeable future given the early returns on the time it’s taking to play Spring Training games.
Major League Baseball experimented with a pitch clock in the minor league’s during the 2022 season and saw a significant reduction in game times.
According to research, through the month of September in 2022, minor league games dropped to an average of 2 hours and 38 minutes, which was down from the average time of 3:03 it took to play a game in 2021.
So far this Spring, through the conclusion of games played Monday, the average time of game was 2:39, which is down more than 20 minutes from levels in each of the previous two seasons.
The speed of the game has been a salty talking point for years now and it seems as though MLB has finally found something that’s going to satisfy the timing issue, but at what cost?
“I don’t think there’s as much thought process or much of an adjustment game plan-wise in between pitches that you can do,” Tucker said. “You have to do it super fast. That part kind of sucks because you want to take your time, understand what just happened and what they’re about to do next.”
Pitchers will have 15 seconds to complete a delivery with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on the bases. In addition, batters must be set and ready in the box with 8 seconds remaining on the clock.
Batters will also be allowed one timeout per plate appearance and there will also be a 30 second clock between batters.
Tucker, who is entering his sixth year in the big leagues with the Astros and hunting a massive payday after losing his arbitration case recently, could be the beneficiary of MLB outlawing the shift, which takes effect this season as well.
To what extent will pull-hitters like Tucker benefit from such changes remains to be seen, as does the impact of the shortened time to prepare for the next pitch.
Jose Altuve, who notoriously tweaks his batting gloves between pitches and goes through numerous mannerisms during an at bat, may have a bit of a learning curve to deal with as well.
“These pitchers are the best pitchers in the world, and you’re giving them more of an advantage,” Tucker said.
While time will certainly tell, the idea that pitchers would have a bigger advantage would seemingly work against MLB’s goal to also create more action and offense with other rule changes taking effect this season.
There are 31 total games on the Astros Spring Training schedule, which runs through March 26, and a number of the Astros won’t see the full schedule of games as they’ve committed to play in the World Baseball Classic which begins pool play on March 8th.
A total of 12 Astros will represent various countries in the WBC. Six players will represent the Dominican Republic, including Bryan Abreu, Ronel Blanco, Cristian Javier, Rafael Montero, Hector Neris and Jeremy Peña.
The Astros have two players representing the United States, including Kyle Tucker and Ryan Pressly.
The others participating in the WBC, include Jose Altuve and Luis Garcia representing Venezuela, while Jose Urquidy (Mexico) and Martin Maldonado (Puerto Rico) have to prepare early for international competition as well.
Thus, while Astros manager Dusty Baker has to concern himself with competitions in camp at center field, back up catcher and finding depth in the pitching staff, he’s also got to prepare his players for game play much earlier than normal.
Not to mention, the WBC will not be employing a pitch clock, bigger bases or enforcement of defensive shifts during competition, which is even less time for hitters and pitchers to get used to MLB’s changes this season.
However, while the changes taking effect this season may not be met with welcome arms regardless of position, they’re all ballplayers.
And ballplayers just find a way to figure things out.
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
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