In a move that would make Joe West’s heart sing, the Southeastern Conference decided to use a pitch clock during its baseball tournament this past weekend in an effort to speed up the game. According to SEC officials, it worked, slicing as much as 15 minutes off tournament games.
Pitch Clock Speeds Up SEC Tournament Games. Your Move, MLB
The 20-second clock between pitches -- used only if there was no runner on base -- was one of two major changes the SEC made to try to speed up games, particularly the four-game early days of the tournament that sometimes stretched through the night and until 1 A.M. or later. The other was a 108-second clock between innings.
Even those who weren’t crazy about the pitch clock, like LSU coach Paul Mainieri, didn’t seem to mind it too much.
Coach Paul Mainieri, who prepared his team for the clock and its ramifications, said he noticed it barely five times during L.S.U.‘s four games.
“It makes everybody aware to get out there quick and ready to go,” said Mainieri, who added that he was not a fan of the clock.
All of which could be good news for baseball fans who wouldn’t mind the games moving along a bit faster. And while TV stations might not be crazy about the three-commercial-per-break limit that results from the innings clock, they should love the idea of less dead time between pitches. MLB?
According to the M.L.B. spokesman Pat Courtney, baseball monitors time-of-game initiatives like the SEC’s. The tournament’s results “will certainly be discussed at our players rules committee meeting, where recommendations are made on potential changes,” he said.
In other words: Don’t hold your breath. Neither pitchers nor batters, who often battle over the pace of at-bats in the search for some mystical psychological edge, would likely be too happy about the clock. (MLB actually has a 12-second time limit between pitches (8.04), but it’s never enforced.) And the change would likely have to be approved by the players’ union.
But if the major-league officials are serious about addressing pace-of-game issues, they now have an example to follow.
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