MLB is trying to increase the speed and pace of games.
To do that, the league has approved a series of rules for the 2023 season and beyond.
There will now be a pitch clock for hurlers: they will have 15 seconds between pitches when there is no one on base and 20 when there are men on base.
Batters, however, have a strict time to be alert to the pitch, though.
If they aren’t alert to the pitch by the eight-second mark, they will incur in a pitch clock violation and a strike will be added to the count.
If they already have two strikes, well, they will go to the dugout with a strikeout.
Sometimes the pitcher isn’t ready by the eight-second mark.
Sometimes the umpire isn’t even ready by that time, like it happened in this video:
Pro Tip: Don't Do This pic.twitter.com/OPT1PYjveF
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 7, 2023
None of that matters for the batter, though.
MLB hitters, collectively, have to wrap their heads around one irrefutable fact: they have to be alert to the pitch by the eight second mark.
The rest of the world doesn’t matter.
There is no stepping out of the batter’s box, having a little walk, taking the helmet off, wiping off the sweat, looking at the bat, and some of the old antics hitters have been doing for decades.
That takes way too much time, and will result in strikes being added to the count more often than not.
The game is changing, and hitters should adapt just as much as pitchers.
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