Since Rob Manfred took the helm as Major League Baseball commissioner in 2015, he has prioritized speeding up and streamlining the game to appeal to the younger audience.
Among other initiatives, Manfred planned on accomplishing his goal by implementing a 20-second pitch clock for the 2018 season. That proposal didn’t go over well with the majority of the players, in addition to the fans, who believe a pitch clock would go against the tradition of the sport.
After multiple conversations with MLB Players Association, Manfred decided against adding a pitch clock for the upcoming season.
During an appearance on Dodger Talk with David Vassegh on AM 570 L.A. Sports Radio, Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw revealed he was part of the talks to shelve the idea of installing a pitch clock in 2018:
“I was definitely involved. I think the union did a pretty good job this time as far as being understood and having a big group of guys on conference calls. I was on a few conference calls this offseason with about 50-60 guys. We were all pretty invested as far as getting it back to our teammates and trying to tell them what we thought and different opinions and ideas about it.
“At the end of the day, we just don’t want to change the integrity of the game. We don’t want pitch clocks, or penalties with pitch clocks or anything like that to ruin the way the game is played. We’re all for a crisp game — the union, the players, everybody. We want to play a quick game as much as anybody does. It’s just a cleaner game if we’re all playing in a crisp fashion. We’re on the same page as that. We just had a little bit of different ideas than the Commissioner’s Office about how to go about that. Ultimately, the Commissioner’s Office did what they did. At least they didn’t put the pitch clock in.”
Like Kershaw, Kenley Jansen publicly opposed the idea of a pitch clock being utilized for the 2018 season. He cited lack of command and walks as factors to why the game has slowed up in recent years.
Although players will not be beholden to a pitch clock, an agreement was reached to limit the number of non-pitching-change mound visits per game. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was on a competition committee, said he anticipates growing pains as teams adjust to the new rule.
