Nov. 15--SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- White Sox pitching prospect Francellis Montas found it impossible not to worry about the shining red digital numbers ticking down against him Wednesday night at Salt River Fields.
As if taking on some of the most promising young minor league hitters in the game wasn't daunting enough in his final Arizona Fall League appearance, Montas also faced for the first time in his life a 20-second pitch clock, one in a string of experiments Major League Baseball implemented in the league this fall to study their effects on the pace of games.
The experiments also included time limits between innings and pitching changes, no-pitch intentional walks and restrictions on team timeouts and hitters leaving the batter's box. They were meant as information-gathering tools for MLB as it considers trying to improve the flow of game action.
The reviews were mixed.
"In my head, it was like, 'Come on, you have to hurry, you have to hurry. Time is going to be over,'" Montas said of the three innings he pitched in the Glendale Desert Dogs' 5-4 victory over the Salt River Rafters. "I don't like it. I've been told multiple pitchers don't like the clock. I know the game is going faster, but I don't think it's something they're going to do."
MLB regular-season games lasted an average of 3 hours, 8 minutes in 2014, but the concern seems to be as much about eliminating lags in a culture in which attention sometimes is fleeting. Outgoing MLB Commissioner Bud Selig formed the Pace of Game Committee in September to try to address such concerns.
MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre, a member of the committee, watched the experiments in action while in Phoenix last week for the general managers' meetings. He noted that any possible changes will have to be made in conjunction with the MLB Players Association -- and implementing anything so close to the 2015 season might be unwise -- but he nonetheless was "impressed" with what he saw.
"I wasn't a real fan of clocks (earlier)," Torre said. "The game seemed a lot crisper to watch, and that's evidenced by the time of the fall league games that are played with the clock.
"From all the evidence we've had from the fall league, it has been a real positive as far as gathering information, and that's what we have to do in determining whether this will work."
The clocks on the field at Salt River Fields -- the only stadium to test out the timing rules -- represented the most glaring trial. Two digital clocks were stationed in front of the backstop on either side of the plate and two more sat at the corner of each dugout. Another clock counted down seconds in the outfield.
Pitchers were given 20 seconds to begin their pitching motion or the umpire could call a ball. The batter had to stay in the batter's box for the entire time or the pitcher could deliver a pitch and the umpire could call a strike.
The clocks also were used to limit the time between innings and pitching changes to 2 minutes, 30 seconds, which on Wednesday twice resulted in relievers sprinting from the bullpens in the outfield corners to reach the mound early.
The nine-inning game lasted 2 hours, 43 minutes, about the average length of home games at Salt River Fields this fall. In 2013 the average Arizona Fall League game lasted 2:52.
Rafters manager Andy Haines, also the Marlins' Triple-A manager, said the rules have been disruptive, but he was happy to test measures that could be for the game's betterment. He watched the clock in action for six weeks during home games and said he thinks it would be complex to implement at the major league level.
"It takes a lot out of the umpire's hands," Haines said. "You don't want a major league game won or lost on a technicality because the clock runs out.
"There are things that happen -- the pitcher and catcher can't get on the same page, the guy on second is stealing signs or the pitcher needs to catch his breath and wipe his forehead. He gets on the mound and all of the sudden he has to rush because the clock is running out. ... If the clock hits zero, there is no umpiring. It's black and white. That gets a little tricky."
Mitch Lambson, a left-handed pitcher in the Astros' system, said the Rafters were called for a few balls early in the season because they ran out of time, but he said he since has grown accustomed to the clock. As a reliever he pointed to the time limit between pitching changes as his biggest challenge, though Haines didn't mind that rule as much.
"It's tough running from the bullpen and only having so much time to warm up," Lambson said. "But a lot of us, we changed up the routine to be a little quicker, and that's the only difference. ... If they keep the (clock rules), it definitely could change the outcome of some games. It would be kind of crazy."
Lambson and Haines both were skeptical of the restriction to three on-field conferences between players and/or coaches per game, saying problems could pop up if pitchers and catchers are having trouble communicating and are out of timeouts.
Haines was in favor of the rule in which a batter must keep one foot in the batter's box during his entire at-bat, but for a few exceptions such as foul balls, wild pitches, passed balls and requested timeouts. Haines said it would eliminate much of the dead time caused as players go through their routines after each swing and could appease some fans.
However, the players who have spent their careers finding a comfortable routine might not be so supportive.
"It really throws off my rhythm when I'm hitting, so I kind of dislike it," Sox shortstop prospect Tim Anderson said before the game against the Rafters. "Every time I take a pitch, I step out and I re-strap my batting gloves. It throws that off. It's just not what I'm used to doing."
Anderson said he doesn't see a need to speed up the game. Sox general manager Rick Hahn, who watched a presentation on the experiments at the GM meetings, personally leaned toward the same opinion.
"I'm willing to sit there for five hours as long as the White Sox win in the end," Hahn said. "That said, it was an interesting presentation and they had various ideas about how to shave off some time. If that resonates with fans, that's great because I don't think anything they're talking about necessarily changes the nature of play or competitiveness. Smarter people than I will figure it out."
The discussions are ongoing to figure out just how speedier games should be achieved.
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