MLB Makes Slight Changes to New Pitch Clock Rules Ahead of 2023 Opening Day, per Memo

Major League Baseball has made minor changes regarding the pitch clock while maintaining the biggest rules regarding the innovation, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Passan reported the pitch clock will continue to extend for 15 seconds when nobody is on base and 20 seconds with baserunners. Hitters will need to be ready in the box with eight seconds to go as well.

Instead, MLB officials wanted to work around the margins, per Passan.

Umpires have more latitude to stop the clock in between innings when a catcher ended the previous inning either at bat or on the bases. Along the same lines, the 30-second clock for pitchers in between batters can be delayed if he needed to make a play in the field or back up a base.

MLB zeroed in on how the clock is impacted when hitters call for time, too:

"Placing the onus on hitters to restart the clock if they take a timeout. Hitters may call time once in an at-bat, and previously the clock was starting from 15 or 20 when players stepped into the batter's box and were alert, leading to pitchers potentially holding the ball for long periods of time. Under the new guidelines, a player, regardless of where he is standing, must indicate to an umpire that he is ready to resume play, at which point the umpire will tell the operator to wind the clock."

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters Tuesday it wouldn't be prudent to overhaul the pitch clock when it has only been implemented in spring training.

"I've met with six teams' players already. Our feet are not in stone on this, on the one hand, and we are prepared to make adjustments based on input," Manfred said. "On the other hand, we want to give it a chance to see exactly how it plays out after a period of adjustment in some regular-season games before we make any really significant alteration."

The pitch clock was always going to be a big adjustment for those who hadn't recently come up from the minors, where it was used last season. Over time, what appear to be issues right now could solve themselves as the players grow more accustomed to the timer.

It's just as plausible the pitch clock, as structured, could broadly help batters more than pitchers or vice versa.

New York Mets ace Max Scherzer said in February he thought pitchers are now better able to dictate the pace of an at-bat. Maybe that's the case, or maybe that advantage is offset by the fact that pitchers have less time to rest in between pitches. Nobody can say for sure yet.

One thing is clear, however. Spring training games have been noticeably shorter, going from three hours, one minute in 2022 to two hours, 36 minutes, per Passan.