Report: MLB Willing to Abandon Pitch Clock Until 2022 in Latest Rules Proposal

Major League Baseball continues to flirt with rule changes ahead of the 2019 season, even if the newest proposal suggests leaving at least one thing the same.

ESPN.com's Jeff Passan reported that MLB sent a "wide-ranging" proposal to the MLB Players Association on Tuesday that includes a willingness to abandon implementing a pitch clock until at least 2022.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic added Wednesday that MLB "views its willingness to abandon the clock until at least 2022 as an olive branch to the union it hopes will lead to improved labor relations."

Passan expanded on other contents and contexts of the league's latest rules proposal:

"MLB also is proposing limitations on position players' usage as pitchers, getting rid of the waiver trading period, further cutting mound visits and potentially shortening inning breaks, sources said.

"The proposal, sent by the league Tuesday, is the latest in a back-and-forth bargaining session centered around the league's unilateral ability to implement a 20-second pitch clock. Amid tension between the parties stemming from a free-agent market players have found unsatisfactory, the league ... offered not to revisit the issue until the 2021 expiration of the current collective-bargaining agreement."

MLB is testing a 20-second pitch clock in spring training, and two star pitchers have already come out against it.

"I know as players that's something that MLB is trying to negotiate," Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer—a three-time Cy Young Award winner—said Saturday, via Chuck King of the Associated Press. "I don't think there's negotiation here. ... Having a pitch clock, if you have ball-strike implications, that's messing with the fabric of the game.

"There's no clock in baseball and there's no clock in baseball for a reason."

Per Pete Caldera of the North Jersey Record, Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka echoed those sentiments Tuesday during a Grapefruit League rainout, saying, "Personally, I'm not in favor of the 20-second rule."

However, Passan noted in his report that it's the three-batter-minimum rule for pitchers that is the most controversial in the league's proposal—not a pitch clock. The three-batter minimum addresses a growing pitch-by-committee trend in MLB, and the rule change—if implemented in 2020—would speed up the game's pace.

While MLB is open to doing without a pitch clock for the time being, there is one rule it would like to see implemented sooner than later: 

"The league proposed having the right in 2019 to shorten inning breaks from 2 minutes, 5 seconds to 1 minute, 55 seconds in locally broadcast games, in addition to shaving 30 seconds off the current 2-minute, 25-second breaks in national games, according to sources. If agreed upon, the league would begin testing the change this spring before implementing it."

Other rules proposed by the league, according to Passan, are lengthening time on the injured list for pitchers from 10 to 15 days and starting a runner at second base in the 10th inning of the All-Star Game and spring training games with a game ending in a tie if still tied after 10 innings.

With the league already using spring training as an experimental ground, many may begin arguing over the possibility of extra-inning MLB games no longer lasting hours on end and instead ending in ties. 

While MLB is locked in on the pace of play and competing with other major sports for fans' attention spans, it may have to prioritize keeping its players happy, especially at the end of a free-agency period during which many stars voiced their displeasure—which could lead to a work stoppage in the not-so-distant future.