MLBPA wants tweak to pitch timer before playoffs
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
SEATTLE — The Major League Baseball Players Association would like the league to soften the pitch timer rule as the 2023 season approaches the playoffs, but commissioner Rob Manfred is leaning toward keeping the current one in place.
“I don’t think there are too many folks that want to have a new rule affect a game in a pennant chase or in the playoffs,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said Tuesday. “There are adjustments that can be beneficial.”
Soon after Clark spoke with reporters on the subject, Manfred was asked if there was a chance that MLB would tweak the current rules, which allow for 15 seconds between pitches when the bases are empty and 20 seconds when runners are on.
“In general, I think you ought to play the postseason the way you play the regular season,” Manfred said. “We are comfortable the way the clock and the violations — particularly late in the game, in high-leveraged situations — have been managed.”
Players aren’t suggesting getting rid of the clock entirely — just tweaking it enough to provide extra time, especially in those high-leverage moments. That includes potentially adding seconds to the clock, approving extra timeouts or disengagements or any number of other ideas which Clark said would give players a chance to “breathe.”
“Considering you just played a 162-game season [with a pitch clock], nobody is looking to play 3½- to 4-hour games,” Clark said. “I don’t think a few seconds here or there is going to create a 3½- to 4-hour game.”
According to league data, pitch clock violations have decreased over time this season, but Manfred admits it could impact an important game in October.
“We don’t want a postseason game decided on a violation,” Manfred said. “We haven’t had a game decided that way [so far]. I understand it’s a possibility.”
Both sides indicate they’ll continue the conversation into the second half of the season, but the league didn’t afford the players much say in the initial decision on the current pitch clock times and Clark isn’t sure if MLB will listen this time around.
“Something that we are concerned about moving forward has to do with the input players offer at the outset,” Clark said. “They didn’t land in a fashion that we hoped, to try and smooth out some of the rough edges earlier.
“The lines of communication are open; we’re glad that they are. We’re hopeful that despite some of the things not being included in the conversation initially that they may be considered down the stretch.”
Manfred also reiterated an earlier stance that a challenge system for balls and strikes is more likely to be implemented than a fully automated system, though it might not appear in the big leagues in 2024. The league doesn’t believe it has the technology 100 percent figured out to make every right call.
MLB is also still working on creating a baseball that provides some stickiness for pitchers. Experiments in the minor leagues are ongoing.
“We continue to work with the people at Dow chemical on developing a tacky ball that would eliminate many of the variables in the current process,” Manfred said. “It would come out of a sealed, foil pouch at the ballpark.”
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Eli Lederman
No. 22 Missouri will be without star tight end Brett Norfleet (shoulder) when the Tigers host undefeated No. 3 Texas A&M on Saturday in Columbia.
Norfleet, a junior from O’Fallon, Missouri, has started in each of the Tigers’ eight games this fall and enters Week 11 leading all SEC tight ends with five touchdown receptions. His 26 catches on the season rank third-most among Missouri pass catchers, trailing only wide receivers Kevin Coleman Jr. and Marquis Johnson.
Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters that Norflett sustained a separated shoulder in Missouri’s 17-10 loss at Vanderbilt on Oct. 25. Drinkwitz later described Norfleet as “day-to-day” during the Tigers’ bye in Week 10, and the veteran tight end was listed as questionable in Missouri’s student-athlete availability report Thursday night.
Norfleet’s absence comes with Drinkwitz and the two-loss Tigers essentially facing a playoff elimination game against the Aggies on Saturday. Missouri will also be without starting quarterback Beau Pribula in Week 11 after the Penn State transfer dislocated his ankle at Vanderbilt. Freshman Matt Zollers, ESPN’s No. 6 pocket passer in the 2025 class, is set to make his first career start Saturday, facing Texas A&M coach Mike Elko and an Aggies defense that ranks 18th nationally in defensive pressures (137), per ESPN Research.
“For our team, it’s really about us focusing on helping Matt execute at the highest level possible,” Drinkwitz said this week. “We’re excited about Matt’s opportunity and what he’s earned. He has done a really good job in practice of leadership, stepping up, embracing the moment, embracing the opportunity.”
Missouri (6-2) kicks off against Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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Jake Trotter
Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards has left the Wildcats and is expected to enter the transfer portal, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Edwards has been hampered by injuries this season and has played in just four games. He has only 34 carries for 205 yards.
In 2024, Edwards finished with 546 rushing yards while averaging 7.4 yards per carry with seven total touchdowns.
He began his career in 2023 at Colorado before transferring to K-State.
The Wildcats (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) are off this weekend.
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