Check this out:
Joey Votto started preparing for a world with a pitch clock over 10 seasons ago. 😂 pic.twitter.com/t8hNOJ3Rlk
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) February 24, 2023
A pitcher who simply pitches and a batter who stands in the box ready to hit. We haven’t seen the likes of it in MLB in decades!
And check this out:
Max Scherzer ends his first inning of work with a strikeout that took 27 seconds.
Don't think anyone in baseball is better equipped to pitch with the clock. pic.twitter.com/pWEvw7PNnV
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) February 26, 2023
Dude had to go back and sit down in less than 30 seconds.
All of this is the product of the pitch clock, an absolutely crucial reform that your humble correspondent has long advocated for.
Now, the above at-bats may feel unnatural, but before baseball embraced a culture of delay over the last couple of decades, they were the norm. In the 1970s and ’80s, when Mike Hargrove was “the human rain delay,” it was a charming idiosyncrasy.
For those not familiar, here’s the Wikipedia entry:
He also attained the nickname “The Human Rain Delay” for his deliberate routine at the plate before each at-bat and before each pitch. He irritated pitchers by stepping out of the batter’s box after each pitch and starting his routine, which consisted of (1) adjusting his helmet, (2) adjusting his batting glove, making sure it was tight on his hand and especially the thumb, (3) pulling each sleeve on his uniform up about an inch, and (4) wiping each hand on his uniform pants — and then sometimes repeating the whole process again — before finally settling back into the box.
Here is a video of Hargrove — an accomplished hitter, by the way — working his magic:
That clip doesn’t look so strange now, because what happened is that, over time, basically every hitter became a human rain delay. To be sure, there are other factors that slowed the game down, but the dance of doing nothing between hitters and pitchers played a big role. And, unfortunately, some people concluded that wasting time was part of the essence of the game, having forgotten how baseball used to work not so long ago.
Now, we have a return to the traditional, much-better norm. This Red Sox broadcaster has it exactly right:
After calling the last 2 games, it’s amazing to look back and see how much the game got away from the way it was supposed to be played. The product is so much better.
— Lou Merloni (@LouMerloni) February 26, 2023
By the way, the changes that MLB is making this season were all tried out in the minors first. There may be some surprises, but we have a pretty good idea of what they’ll do.
And here’s an amusing — and correct — take on the pitch clock from the great Jason Gay.