Baseball's pitch clock era is bringing back 'the beautiful game'

Jim Kaat, now recognized as a Hall of Fame pitcher, and worthy of those same accolades as an analyst and broadcaster, was talking not long ago about the oppressive slowness that was plaguing big-league baseball games.

A lefty who once had created a second stage of a pitching career by becoming the fastest worker in the majors, Kaat offered this outrageous remedy:

"Seven-inning games."

Really? "That might be the only answer," Kaat said.

I couldn't handle that solution, but one night in the TV den, there was a World Series game that was going so slowly that I found a random show and watched an episode before turning back.

One hour, missed eight outs.

And then an amazing thing happened: the Commissioner's Office, led by Rob Manfred, the baseball majordomo previously accused of not liking baseball, came up with a fabulous solution.

The pitch clock.

It was tested for a couple of seasons in the minor leagues. If Twins followers wanted to see what the pitch clock would look like a season ago, we received a sneak peek when Louie Varland made his five starts after he used it in the minors.

Catcher returns ball. Louie is on the rubber. Next pitch is determined. And here it comes … all within 10 seconds, 12 max.

The pitch clock was unveiled for MLB in this spring training. Once the clock started, the pitcher had 15 seconds to be in action without a runner on base, 20 seconds with a runner.

And the batter, for safety reasons discovered in the minors, would be required to be in contact visually with the pitcher at 8 seconds.

There were fears of chaos. There have been moments, but far from chaos. Halfway through the season, this has been MLB's stunning success.

It no longer takes the patience of cloistered monks to watch 60-70% of all games. Baseball has returned to what we in this grand country of ours (top five, easy) had given this label:

"The Beautiful Game."

Imported sports from foreign lands have attempted to purloin that title, of course, but we old-timers remember Willie Mays coming here with the magnificent National Leaguers for the 1965 All-Star Games, and nothing in team athletic endeavors could match such beauty.

Since then, these have been the three most important events in Western civilization:

1969: Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. 1984: Radio Shack introduces Tandy Model 200. 2023: MLB adopts pitch clock.

This is one veteran sportswriter's opinion, of course. Disagree, if you must.

Morgan Sword, the vice president for baseball operations in Manfred's large office, received a congratulatory call a few days ago, and admitted this:

"It has been an amazing first three months of the season. Games are down a half-hour. The players have adjusted amazingly well. The game is getting more like what fans used to see — and want to see — all the time."

Sword said the opinion on that "want to" came from extensive fan research, along with nonstop conversations with people involved in the game.

"What we heard was wanted by a large majority of all parties were the same things: improved pace, more action and, frankly, shorter games. We tried a dozen experimental things to move toward those things, and the pitch clock rose to the surface."

Sword paused with a laugh and said: "There have never been smarter people in baseball departments. So, we also had to spend time closing loopholes.

"Throwing over to first could be an obvious delaying tactic — and we also wanted more action on the bases. So, we limited those throws, and stolen bases are up.

"We also took away the full shift and kept the infielders on the dirt. We wanted to restore baseball's traditional aesthetic. With the help of amazing cooperation from the umpires, and the rapid adjustment from players, we're getting there."

As for those wondering if a bit more time between pitches might be a possibility, say 20 seconds in all situations, Sword said:

"The preferred number we heard from the largest number of fans for a nine-inning game was '2:30.' We're at 2:37 now, so I don't think we'd be looking to add seconds for a high number of pitches."

Such baseball pundits as A.J. Pierzynski and Trevor Plouffe both have suggested games to be slowed for the postseason so that the "big moments can breathe."

Sword's response? "This is the game fans told us they want to see: less downtime, more movement. And I haven't heard that theory about changing for the postseason very much at all in recent weeks."

The idea the Pitch Clock Era was the dramatic change MLB needed was indicated dramatically to Sword on Opening Day at the Mets' Citi Field.

"I was with my 6-year-old son Hudson, we stayed for nine innings and he didn't complain about being bored once," Sword said. "That was a big victory."

. . .

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was a fan of Major League Baseball's speed-up rules almost immediately when the schedule opened this spring. He was asked his view last week, as the season was reaching the halfway point, and said:

"It has been a godsend to our game. It has gone smoother than I thought it would. There have been some players who have challenged some aspects of it, but the conversation is so much bigger than a few moments.

"The pitch clock and the other changes have given our game new blood.

"It has awakened a lot of people to our game again. People have been turned onto it. And the worry about players being rushed …

"Is anyone paying attention to how many fewer hours they are working at playing games? A half-hour less, six times a week, that's three fewer hours of being in the field. That's one less full game.''