What is a Pitch Clock? How Did It Change After the 2023 MLB Season?

Baseball may be America’s favorite pastime but it’s not free from criticism. One of the most common complaints has been how slow the game sometimes gets. With pitchers taking their sweet time before throwing, games used to be delayed a lot. Major League Baseball tried to solve that issue in 2023 by introducing the pitch clock. A revolutionary change to how the sport was played, although it took some getting used to. But it seems things still haven’t perfectly aligned with the vision of the league.

As a result, a few new changes or tweaks have been introduced recently for the 2024 season. One of the biggest is regarding the implementation of the pitch clock.

The Pitch Clock – A revolutionary step

After years of talks and research, MLB finally announced that by 2023, there will be a pitch clock implemented for all 30 teams. A pitch clock is a timer that starts right from the moment the pitcher steps foot on the mound. According to the original rule, a pitcher was given 15 seconds to throw his pitch when the bases were empty and 20 seconds when the base was filled. On a failure to do this multiple times, he found himself liable for penalties.

This rule had an impact on the sport as suddenly the pitcher was also time-bound. But at the same time, teams found different ways to exploit this. The biggest is the pitcher choosing to stand around the mound instead of on it. This delayed the start of the clock and gave the pitcher more time to strategize. But it looks like the league has caught up to this.

As CBS Sports reported, the major change is the reduction of the original pitch clock. Instead of the previous 20 seconds, now the pitcher will have only 18 seconds to throw his pitch when the bases are loaded. The league noticed that even after the announcement of the pitch clock, the game length increased last season by five to seven minutes. So now instead of the clock starting at the mound, it will start the moment the pitcher has the ball and the play is ready to start.

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But this isn’t the only rule that has seen a tweak. The league has announced a few more changes that can have some impact on the sport.

MLB announces changes in the runner lane

The league has announced that the runner lane will be widened. It will now include the dirt area between the infield grass and the foul line. This will provide the batters with a more direct running path to first base. This has long been a demand of players that is finally getting fulfilled.

These changes are sure to bring a new dimension to the sport. Reducing the length of a game has been a long-held objective of the league. Looks like the increasingly short attention span of viewers is worrying the league as well.

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