MLB again tinkers with pitch clocks, basepaths

Major League Baseball’s competition committee approved several rule changes for the 2024 season, including subtracting two seconds from the pitch timer with men on base — from 20 to 18 seconds — while also widening the runner’s lane to first.

Previously, batters had to essentially run on the dirt between the foul line and 3-foot line or be in risk of being called out for interference. Now, that lane will extend to the cut of the infield grass. The distance between the foul line and the infield grass will be between 18 and 24 inches in all parks, with some limited grace periods granted by MLB due to difficulty in modifying the field.

The rest of the changes for 2024 relate to the pace of the game as the league tries to trim time on the margins. MLB said the average nine-inning game increased by seven minutes from April to September last year, the first season with a pitch clock.

• With men on base, pitchers will have 18 seconds instead of 20 to begin their motion to home. However, there won’t be any changes to the clock when the bases are empty. Hurlers will still have 15 seconds to begin their delivery in those situations. According to the league, pitchers began their deliveries with an average of 7.3 seconds remaining on the 20-second timer in 2023.

• Barring an injury, a pitcher who begins to warm up at the start of an inning will now be required to face at least one batter. Previously, they could be replaced during or after warmups. The league said there were 24 instances last season where the pitcher that warmed up between innings was replaced before throwing a pitch — adding approximately three minutes of dead time.

• Mound visits will be reduced from five to four per game as the league said they rank among fans’ least favorite events in baseball. Teams averaged only 2.3 mound visits per game in 2023 while, according to league data, 98% of games last season would not have exceeded a limit of four visits. Umpires will permit defensive players to signal for a mound visit without actually visiting the mound to help improve pace of game there, as well. Teams will still be awarded an extra mound visit for the ninth inning if they’ve used four after eight innings.

• The pitch timer will now reset after a dead ball as soon as the pitcher is given a new one and play is set to resume. He no longer has to be on the mound for the clock to reset, preventing the pitcher’s ability to delay a restart by walking around the edges of it.

• During pitching changes, if the clock is under two minutes as the reliever exits the bullpen and onto the warning track, it will reset back to 2:00 rather than 2:15 as it did last year.

• The league withdrew a proposal to reset the pitch clock as soon as a batter calls a timeout. Umpires will continue to use their judgment as to when the clock starts again.

The competition committee is made up of six owners, four players and one umpire, giving the league a majority vote on any changes. The rules announced Thursday are minor compared to those enacted for 2023 when the pitch timer was introduced in the majors, the shift was banned and the bases were widened. As a result, average game times dropped by 24 minutes.

“From its inception, the Joint Competition Committee’s constructive conversations between players, umpires and owners have produced rules that significantly improved the game for fans,” John Stanton, chairman of the competition committee as well as the Seattle Mariners, said in a statement. “These modifications will improve on last year’s work by the Competition Committee, which was a resounding success with our fans and for the sport.”

Major League Baseball Players Association head Tony Clark said the player representatives voted against the proposal, adding: “As they made clear in the Competition Committee, players strongly feel that, following last season’s profound changes to the fundamental rules of the game, immediate additional changes are unnecessary and offer no meaningful benefits to fans, players, or the competition on the field. This season should be used to gather additional data and fully examine the health, safety, and injury impacts of reduced recovery time; that is where our focus will be.”