Apparently, there was a problem going on in high school baseball that nobody knew was a problem.
Monday night – opening night of the 2024 season – something happened at Cicero Field in the Northwood-Loyola game that caught more than a few people off guard.
In the middle of a plate appearance by a Loyola player, the first base umpire stopped play just before a pitch was thrown.
“Clock violation” was the call.
“That caught me off-guard for sure,” said Northwood coach Austin Alexander.
He wasn’t the only one.
Major League Baseball has a time limit between pitches and innings. So does college baseball.
And now, so does high school baseball.
But in pro and college stadiums, there are countdown clocks strategically placed throughout the facility, so everyone knows when it’s about be an issue. It might be awhile before those start popping up at local baseball facilities.
So how do the umpires keep track? The old-fashioned way – with a stopwatch. Welcome to the modern world of time-limit baseball … with a relic from the past.
We are almost a week into the season and mostly coaches have not found it to be an issue. Even in the case of the Northwood-Loyola game, it was only a warning. (On the next violation, a ball would have been called).
“I don’t think it’s much of a factor,” Alexander said. “We try to get out guys to play fast and set the tone that way. But it’s really going to be to each umpire’s discretion. Some are going to enforce it and some aren’t.
The biggest issue is how it will all be implemented. “I’ve had three games this week,” said Captain Shreve coach Todd Sharp, “and I have to ask the umpires before the game how are these rules going to be implemented. And I get different answers every day. Rules have always been around; I don’t have any problem with rules. It’s more about how they are implemented.”
Most coaches agree that the pitch clock (20 seconds between pitches, even with a runner on base) is not as big of a potential issue as the between-innings clock, which is a 1:20.
“Say I’ve got a catcher trying to leg out a ground ball in the hole and he runs halfway down the line on the third out and we are in the third base dugout,” said Airline’s Toby Todd. “That’s going to be tough to get back and get the equipment on in time.”
Pitchers only get five warmup pitches when they come back to the mound during a game. That’s also a change from before. But what if the catcher hasn’t finished putting his equipment on? Does the pitcher just stand there? Can he lob a few to the third baseman?
There’s another little-known clock rule. When a pitching change is made, the new pitcher only gets eight warmup pitches or 1:20. “I’ve had an umpire tell me by the letter of the law, if he’s only thrown four pitchers in 1:20, that’s it,” Sharp said. “So my question is, if my pitcher goes really fast, can he throw 10 (warmup) pitches? They told me no.”
“This was a non-factor that they tried to make into a factor,” Todd said. “They only thing I see it’s good for is that now it makes the lazy umpires hurry up and get his mask back on.”
Though most coaches say it doesn’t change their approach, there has been an occasional problem in the past with an over-abundance of sign giving. Either coaches are trying to disguise their signs as if a bevy of Russian spies are in the stands or the players stare back and have no idea what belt-hat-belt is supposed to mean.
“A lot of these kids play travel ball during the summer,” Todd said, “so they aren’t used to seeing a take sign anyway.”
“For this area, I don’t think it was necessary, but I’m sure it was in other areas so we are all going to have to deal with it,” Sharp said. “Mostly, the umpires tell me they aren’t looking to do this (calling violations). They are just making you aware of it.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com