WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Baseball’s exhibition games will feature 20-second pitch clocks, commissioner Rob Manfred said Sunday, increasing the likelihood the long-discussed innovation will graduate into the regular season as well for the first time.
At Grapefruit League Media Day on Sunday, Manfred said an official announcement with all of the details will arrive this coming week. Clubs begin game action next weekend.
“We will start getting ready for the possibility that we’re going to use the pitch clock on Opening Day,” Manfred said. “It’ll be a phase-in to get players and umpires used to it. But we’re still hopeful that we’re going to make an agreement with Tony [Clark] and the union on pace-of-play initiatives. Whether it’s by agreement or otherwise, the only prudent course at this point is to be in position to proceed if in fact we have an agreement under our collectively bargained right to do that.”
As per baseball’s Basic Agreement, if he and Players Association executive director Clark can’t find common ground on pace-of-play issues, Manfred can unilaterally implement the 20-second pitch clock — with no runners on base and with runners on base — because he proposed that in collective bargaining two years ago. No other pace-of-play initiatives will be introduced during Grapefruit League and Cactus League action, Manfred said. The commissioner is putting all of his eggs in the pitch-clock basket.
Earlier this offseason, the commissioner’s office submitted a proposal to the players that included a pitch clock as well as a rule compelling pitchers to face a minimum of three batters in an inning. The union responded with a far broader proposal that asked for the immediate integration of the designated hitter into the National League, as well as several adjustments of the game’s economic system.
“We made a responsive proposal on the playing-rule piece and on all of the economic issues, with the exception of the proposal that we implement the DH in 2019,” said Manfred, who added, with some snark, “… once again demonstrating our willingness to attempt to deal with whatever unrest is out there in a positive way in the room where you might actually deal with those problems.”