Major League Baseball announced on Friday its plan for implementing a pitch clock for spring training games. The roll out will happen in three phases.
The first phase the 20-second timer will operate without enforcement to help get players and umpires familiar with the system.
Sometime next week, umpires will begin issuing reminders to pitchers and hitters who violate the rule but will not penalize them. Umpires will inform the club’s manager of any violations.
Pending the status of negotiations with the Players Association, umpires will begin assessing ball-strike penalties for games in the final preseason games.
The rule states that the batter must be in the batter’s box and alert to the pitcher with at least five seconds remaining on the timer. The pitcher must begin his windup or motion to come to a set position before the 20-second timer expires. The timer will not be used on the first pitch of any at-bat and will start prior to the second pitch when the pitcher receives the ball from the catcher.
Your open thread discussion topic for tonight is this. Do you like the idea of a pitch clocks? Why or why not?
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