NEW YORK (AP) — Pitch clocks have shortened games by an average of 29 minutes in the minor leagues this year as the season nears the halfway point.
Minor league games with a pitch clock have averaged 2 hours, 35 minutes, down from 3:04 through June 14 last year, in an experiment that Major League Baseball is preparing for possible adoption in 2023.
However, robot umpires calling balls and strikes are not close to a big league promotion.
Triple-A is using a pitch clock of 14 seconds with no runners and 19 seconds with runners, while lower levels are using 14/18. Experiments also are underway with limits on defensive shifts and use of larger bases.
A competition committee comprised of six management officials, four union representatives and one umpire was established in the new collective bargaining agreement, and it has the right to make on-field rules changes with 45 days’ notice. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said the committee will meet for the first time next week.
“We are encouraged by the results in the minor leagues,” Manfred said Thursday following an owners meeting. “We’ve said for years that the minor leagues provide us with a really important opportunity to experiment, learn and make sure we understand how something’s going to work if we deploy it on the field. I went down and saw a pitch clock game. There was some publicity surrounding it. It was really positive. The game really moved along.”
The major league batting average is .242 this season after finishing April at .231 and rising to .245 for the month of May. Last season’s final average of .244 was the lowest since 1972.
Home runs per game are averaging 1.05 per team, down from 1.22 last year.
“What’s happened with our offense is kind of a predictable pattern,” Manfred said. “Offense in April is…