Boston Red Sox designated hitter Justin Turner gets ready to bat during a spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday in Fort Myers, Fla. Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Here in the early days of Grapefruit League games, the pitchers are ahead of the hitters. Some things never change. Pitchers are usually well ahead of schedule when compared to hitters, who are still working on their timing.
Yet here in spring training of 2023, everything has changed. Pitchers seem to be ahead of hitters in figuring out the new timing restrictions being implemented for the coming season. It was a hitter, not a pitcher, found to be in violation of the new pitch-clock rules on the final play of Saturday’s 6-6 tie with the Braves in North Port, Florida.
It didn’t take long for the new rules to become the headline story of the 2023 preseason. The first-ever “clock off” ending was pure mayhem, a game ending with a strike out before the 3-2 pitch was thrown.
Despite that unprecedented moment, Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said he still believes in the changes.
“Obviously there’s a few things that we still have to work on,” Cora said Monday morning, “and we’ve got 27 more days or whatever it is to get to where we want to, but for the game – for where we want it to go – no doubt about it, this is the right thing.”
Many of us expected there to be a slew of calls early in camp, with pitchers being called out for slow deliveries. Instead it’s been hitters, who have to be alert and ready with eight seconds to go on the pitch clock, who have been slow to adapt.
Red Sox infielder Ryan Fitzgerald, who dealt with the new rules last year in Triple-A, tweeted after Saturday’s game that this pitch clock seemed much quicker than what he experienced last year. On Sunday he felt things were back to normal.
“I kept looking at the clock because it’s part of my routine now since last year,” said Fitzgerald. “I looked at the clock and it was like 12 seconds and I was like ‘Oh, crap, I’ve got to get going.’ Last game it was a lot better. I spoke to somebody who said it was a new guy running the clock at the Braves game and he was trying to figure out what the rules were and how to start it and stop it. Maybe the kinks are getting worked out.”
“It’s been like two games,” said Cora. “You feel like you’re explaining it to the guys. They still have their doubts and they’re learning too. This is something new for them. For most of them.”
Yet Cora understands this is an effort to make the game a better product for consumers. The Red Sox played each of their first two games in 2 hours, 39 minutes despite a total of 12 runs scored in the first game and 13 in the second. Overall, games averaged 2 hours, 37 minutes over the first two days of spring training, compared to 3:01 last year.
Shorter games are a good thing. Games played at a quicker tempo are even better. The early innings of Red Sox games so far have been played at breakneck speed. Take a minute to look at your phone and you might miss six pitches.
“The pace of the game is definitely faster,” said Boston second baseman Christian Arroyo.
Major League Baseball should be thrilled with the early results. Games are quicker, the action is more intense, and players are getting a very quick message that these new rules will be enforced. Some fans are unhappy – who wants to see a game end without a pitch being thrown? – but by and large the reaction has been positive to the action.
The hope here is that players will adapt in the weeks ahead, and that the freak show of automatic balls and strikes being called for clock violations comes to an end before regular-season games begin. Saturday’s clock-off ending served as a reminder that umpires will be enforcing this for real.
Pitchers have shown they are adapting to the new rules quicker than hitters. If the batters can get up to speed we’ll see far fewer violations called in the weeks ahead. And far less time wasted waiting for pitchers to finally throw a pitch.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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