MLB commissioner Rob Manfred commends seamless adaptation of rule changes: "I think it’s been A-plus. Hats off to the players"

When MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's 11-man "competition committee" announced that they would be releasing a slew of new rules ahead of the season, some were concerned.

The proposed changes were meant to stimulate offense and decrease the average time of an MLB game, which lasted over three hours in 2022.

The rules (which emanated from the near-lockout at the beginning of the 2022 season) include smaller base sizes, new restrictions on defensive shifts and, perhaps most controversially, a pitch clock.

Under the new pitch clock rules, pitchers will have fifteen seconds to deliver their pitch if the bases are empty (twenty if there is a runner on) or a ball will be added to the count.

Conversely, batters will be punished with a strike if they fail to assume their batting position by the eight-second mark (as San Diego Padres star Manny Machado learned in a game this spring against the Seattle Mariners).

"Now that we got our first look at the pitch clock, we see our first clock infraction. Manny Machado started off his at-bat, 0-1 because he took too long to get into the box" - Talkin' Baseball

Baseball traditionalists have attacked the clock since it made its debut this preseason. However, in a recent piece for USA Today, writer Bob Nightengale caught up with Rob Manfred. The MLB boss had words of affirmation for the clock, even commending players for adapting to the rule so seamlessly.

“I am pleased. The results, the quantitative results, the feel of the game, the way the games are moving, I think it’s been A-plus. Hats off to the players.’’

The pitch clock's aim was to shorten games, a goal which appears to have been achieved. On average, spring training games in 2023 were twenty-one minutes shorter than the average 2022 MLB regular season game.

Games in the MLB preseason had an average length of just 2 hours and 35 minutes, marking the first time since the 1982 regular season that the average game has been so short.

Some think the adaptation of the pitch clock will clear the way for new measure from the MLB

Like it or not, the pitch clock is here to stay.

With Manfred expressing that the league has no intent on ever dropping this measure, some fear that other, more stringent rules like an automated strikezone could take effect soon.

Either way, fans will have to get used to this newer, faster version of baseball.