Does MLB really need a change of pace?

This time last year the rookie Arizona Fall League became the guinea pig for the implementation of expanded replay. Obviously, things went pretty well as expanded replay was instituted in 2014 and seemed to work very well during the regular season. There are always tweaks to made and no system is perfect but so far, so good for expanded replay in Major League Baseball.

This season the AFL is going to be the guinea pig again. The recently convened MLB Pace of Game Committee, put together by Commissioner Bud Selig, has announced a list of rules they are going to attempt to implement during the Arizona Fall League games which begin October 7 and run through November 15.

Mar 6, 2014; Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

Selig’s committee consists of representatives for MLB, MLBPA and MLB executives (I happen to question – where is any kind of representative of the fans? We are the ones who are paying to watch, right?).

Maybe a baseball game does not need to be four hours long (but that all depends on if you’re a baseball fan or not, I guess). I get that, but the intiatives put forth by the committee might shave ten minutes off a game. Is that really going to matter to the causual baseball fan?

Some of these rules I honestly think are absurd, others may be just good common sense and the rest could go one way or another, as in if they work realistically at least. Let’s highlight one in each category, beginning with main one I deemed “absurd.”

Mainly the idea that there are going to be actual play clocks that make sure all these rules, namely the one in which a pitcher must pitch within 20 seconds of recieving the ball, is ridiculous. The game would be ten times longer if they had to enforce that rule every two (or really 20) seconds.

Clocks will be mounted in the dugouts that count down the time. Yeah, this is going to over great in a game that is both literally and figuratively “timeless.”

So that is one of the rules that will be tested out, pitchers must throw a pitch within 20 seconds of receiving the ball. A clock will be posted in each dugout and will count down the 20 seconds.

The idea of actual clocks in baseball, and that every 20 seconds a pitcher takes is going to be evaluated, is just laughable but that’s OK. There are some of the rules that at least on the surface appear to make a lot more sense.

Let’s look at one that has some good merits and some that would change the game in certain ways. At first I saw this one as a no-brainer. Actually taking the time to throw four balls on an intentional walk can be seen as a little excessive. Then I read something on DeadSpin that changed my mind.

While it may appear to be a no-brainer that spending the time to throw four uncessary pitches, why not have the manager just signal that it is an intentional walk and send the batter on to first base?

It may not happen often but Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky writes and has a good point when he says,

"“It’s super rare that you see one go wrong, but when it does, it’s hilarious enough that it might just justify the whole enterprise.”"

In “one” he’s referring to one of the four pitches of an intentional walk. Unless the mistake is made by your team (and depending on the importance of the game there can be exceptions) seeing an intentional walk go awry could be one of your best ballpark memories.

Not unlike when Josh Hamilton was still with the Texas Rangers. He just full-out dropped the ball in right-center field in game 162 in 2012 against the Oakland Athletics. It gave the Athletics some insurance runs, it didn’t change the course of the game (although the A’s did win the A.L. West that day) and it was hilarious.

When something just goes so wrong it’s silly, well, as fans we enjoy and remember those kinds of things. Don’t we? Well I do and I wouldn’t wanna miss an errant pitch go to the backstop and allow a run to advance or score, or not, but it is still one of those little nuances of the game that could be lost with the implementation of these rules.