MLB Pitch Clock: Which pitchers will be most affected by the 20-second time limit in 2023?

The MLB pitch clock is being added for 2023. This is an effort by commissioner Rob Manfred to limit the amount of time in between pitches, which should speed up pace of play and shorten games a bit. Baseball is an infamously long game with a lot of dead time.

Most pitchers work fast, so they won't need to adjust very much to throw again in either 20 or 15 seconds. Others, however, will struggle mightily.

Baseball Savant has a statistic measuring pitcher tempo. This doesn't exactly measure time in between pitches, as it starts from the release of one pitch to the release of the next pitch.

Still, it's a great stat for determing who the slowest pitchers are in baseball and thus those who may struggle with the MLB pitch clock the most:

1. Brent Suter, 12.6
2. Sam Long, 12.8
3. Jesse Chavez, 13.7
4. Cole Irvin, 14.1
5. John Brebbia, 14.2
6. Steven Matz, 14.4
7. Keegan Akin, 14.4
8. Aaron Ashby, 14.5
9. Logan Webb, 14.5
10. Shane Bieber, 14.6
11. Reiver Sanmartin, 14.6
12. German Marquez, 14.6
13. Jakob Junis, 14.6
14. Brady Singer, 14.6

These pitchers will likely have to make major adjustments to how they pitch in order to avoid the penalties. If they can't make the timer, then an automatic ball is applied.

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Other stars who will struggle with MLB pitch clock

While those pitchers are the most egregiously slow offenders, there are other stars who likely will have to adjust, too. Their tempo may not be as low as Brent Suter, but they're going to have to pick up the pace, too.

Nestor Cortes may have to speed up in 2023

These include:

• Cal Quantrill, 14.9
• Nestor Cortes, 15.0
• Jose Berrios, 15.4
• Sandy Alcantara, 15.5
• Walker Buehler, 16.0
• Clayton Kershaw, 16.0
• Luis Severino, 16.3
• Ian Anderson, 16.3
• Max Scherzer, 16.6
• Jacob deGrom, 17.1

These pitchers may have to adjust to the MLB pitch clock and it will be interesting to watch. For example, will Sandy Alcantara, the reigning NL Cy Young, be as effective if he has to speed way up?

Pitchers like Ryan Pressly (23.7 tempo) and Shohei Ohtani (21.7) won't likely have to change much to adhere to the MLB rule changes, though.