ESPN’s Jeff Passan: What the Pitch Clock Has Meant to Baseball at All Levels | The Rich Eisen Show

ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan and Rich Eisen discuss what the pitch clock has meant for baseball and why offense is still down despite the ban of the shift.
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[@joePARKS]

Jeff absolutely nailed it - everything about MLB is better with Pitch Clock - and how it seamlessly was integrated is a HUGE win for baseball

[@brianhurt3271]

The pitch clock and the DH in the NL are fantastic.

[@tonypapas9854]

Now......GET RID OF THE GHOST RUNNER IN EXTRA INNINGS. That's NOT baseball.

[@Andrew_M_Ward]

How is that NOT baseball? As pitchers use every technical and scientific advantage - scoring is at a premium - I love it that extra-inning games are one hit away from being over

[@Mrqq-jx2ox]

The rule changes are the main and pry only reason my dad, me and my buddy actually got into baseball. Playoffs, pitch clock, DH, more steals, have made it appealing to a younger crowd which is better for the game long term anyway. The game before always felt like a clunky antique to me, the whole “Americas Pastime” seemed more like an ironic title than anything. Now not so much, I actually look forward to games and then talking to my dad or my friends about them.

[@DJV7893]

Rich Eisen needs a pitch clock for his questions. They're the longest formed questions ever for an 8-10 min guest spot. Where at some point the question just turns into a statement and right at the end he remembers he has a guest on with him and eventually asks some form of a question that is not well put.

[@tonypapas9854]

LMFAO - that does happen with him a lot.

[@TheOsfania]

This is Rich's way of commanding the entire conversation. He loves the sound of his own voice best.

[@hfled]

I agree on the pitch clock - it has been fantastic. Don’t like any of the other changes, though - especially the larger base sizes. I saw a stat somewhere that runners are stealing safely over 80% of the time league wide, and elite runners are around 90%. That’s way too high. Baseball DOES NOT need to be more offensive. Great pitching, defense, and good strategy are just as fun to watch as far as I’m concerned.

[@tonypapas9854]

It's strange to hear Rich's first thoughts on the pitch clock. Ummmmm.........baseball games originally lasted less than 2 hours. The "meandering" was complete bullsh*t because of kowtowing to advertisers as the decades went by, and then letting the Player's Union to get away with too much (and I'm much more Player's Union than the Owners that screwed them over for 100+ years).

[@SirVic42]

I wonder if the MLB media rights holders agree with the shorter games. When they bid on the current contracts, they were bidding on 3 hour programming blocks, but now they are getting 2.5 hour games. Now they have to fill a full 30 minutes to fill with studio shows that get no ratings and command much lower ad rates. I'm fine with the clock, but 15 seconds still feels little rushed at times. 20 seconds would still keep the pace brisk, but give the players an extra breath when needed.

[@chrisolivo6591]

Nothing has changed in terms or revenue. Baseball will always have 9 innings so they get commercials between innings and pitching changes. That’s all that matters. Nobody watches the Pre/Post game shows anyway (except the NBA TNT show).

[@TheOsfania]

Pitching movement and change of speed is *much* more important than velocity.

[@alexreadscomics6607]

Count-point: from the live game experience - it’s awful. They’re trying to rush you out the door. It’s purely for money.

[@MrBezl]

How about not letting the pictures use “foreign substances” to pitch. Maybe then batting averages would go up 🤔

[@RFirmInternational]

Been watching pitch clock games at the AA level for years. It rules. Fantastic to see it in the majors.

[@billmalec]

Should be called the BATTER CLOCK! As a pitcher i was in favor of it. I'd get the ball back from the catcher and....i was ready to go. Why isn't the damn batter? The BATTER CLOCK sure has helped...

[@drewristine4498]

I guess i'm in the minority. HATE the pitch clock, HATE the shift ban. Teach young kids how to play the game, not just swing for power. Game is in a terrible spot and getting worse because these guys cannot hit.

[@afkathisguy]

Pitch clock is great for watching the game at home. It makes the in-stadium experience worse. Get up to go to the bathroom and hit the concession stand - you will have missed 2-3 innings of a game you spent big bucks to see in person. It's frustrating.

[@samnewton9568]

Passan is a Hendrix fan

[@JFoxman]

If being a contributing factor in the sudden and unmistakable raise in Tommy John surgeries is a "good thing" for the ADD baseball fan of today, then the sport is in for a rude awakening in a few years.

[@chrisolivo6591]

Bill James (the father of analytics even disagrees with you). The rise of Tommy John Surgeries are because these guys are trying to throw their hardest on every pitch. Plus this is the first generation of pitchers who played year round youth traveling Baseball. I honestly think these kids (in all youth sports) put too much stress on their body before they are fully developed and it catches up with them in their 20’s. I grew up in the 80’s and i never knew one kid back then who needed ACL or Tommy John cause we didn’t play sports year round.

[@JFoxman]

@@chrisolivo6591 I said the Pitch Clock was "a contributing factor". Not the only one. And yes, James is also correct. Guys trying to throw every single pitch as hard as they can is a major factor. My point is the "recovery time" between pitches, as small as it was before the Pitch Clock, is a fraction of that now.

[@brandonspradlin7820]

Easy. Allow pitchers to throw full games again. Allow and account for fatigue. It's so frustrating to watch a pitcher throw 7 no- hit innings, and upon 1 walk, get taken out of the game. Does that mean he's tired, and therefore less accurate? Don't know. The moneyball mentality has robbed game management of great baseball moments.

[@rasmub18]

Max effort pitching on every pitch is what's going on. And when most good teams have 3-6 guys in the pen that can throw close to 100 they aren't going to keep the guy out there to fight through the line up a 3rd/4th time and risk them being injured.

[@jedward5155]

20 seconds is too short. Give them 30 seconds.

[@rasmub18]

20 seconds was too long so they moved it to 18 this year.

[@kaivaughn3782]

If they want to bring offense back, let them do steroids again. Baseball was way better back then

[@Mittens5044]

Don't like it. It makes the game go too fast. I went to a Dodger game last month for a noon game. The game ended at 1:55. It was a waste of my money.

[@HunkDrangus]

Fucking right. I want a day at the ballpark, not 2 hours at the ballpark, especially when the drive to the game takes longer than the fucking game, then you have to drive home yet.

[@nnjjee1]

Games used to last 2 hours decades ago. Geez what do people want?!

[@RyTrapp0]

lmao, you just want players to literally waste your time? This is some incredible logic... 🤣

[@Mittens5044]

@nnjjee1 the pitch clock wasn't needed that's why.

[@Mittens5044]

@nnjjee1 the pitch clock wasn't needed that's why.

[@cesarsanchez9697]

You can't convince me it makes the game better. Baseball was meant for people to be able to kill an afternoon. The games feel rushed.

[@Chozin1]

That's back when beer and concession and parking were affordable. That's been priced out. I am going to continue saying this , I'm not watching dudes step out of a box 100 times , scratch their balls , adjust their gloves and step back in. That's not entertaining and a legit waste of everyone's time

[@RyTrapp0]

"Baseball was meant for people to be able to kill an afternoon" No. It wasn't. Baseball was never created "for" spectators, the fact that people want to watch it is completely secondary to baseball's existence. MLB is a commercial product, and, as such, they're responding to what the market wants. Just like football did like 4 or 5 years ago when they started making changes because the games were getting too long.

[@curtisbowles9894]

Take away the psychology of the game? True Baseball fans don't care how long the game is. Keep Baseball well....Baseball.

[@918guy]

watching someone put their hand up a dozen times while they dig a hole in the box is not "the psychology of the game" its dumb.

[@mizer9510]

The pitch clock is stupid and unnecessary. Also the runner at 2nd base in extra innings might be the dumbest thing ever.

[@markhussey2074]

Why is the pitch clock stupid? Do you like watching a batter step out and adjust his batting gloves after every pitch? The modern day players brought this on themselves.

[@tonypapas9854]

Nope. Yep.

[@markb2773]

My 2 cents: The pitch clock and getting rid of that stupid "shift" saved baseball...I now watch it again after many years of only tracking it to see who won and lost. I also have to say I actually like the kooky ghost runner on 2nd to speed up extra inning games because few people want to see these 18+ inning games where you exhaust your entire pitching staff just to win 1 of 162 games.

[@mizer9510]

@@markhussey2074 because I don't care if a baseball game is 3 and a half hours long. They are killing everything that baseball was built upon. It was never as big of a deal as they made it out to be.

[@Chozin1]

​@@mizer9510makes me thing you don't know what baseball was built on. When it started it wasn't this long. The game literally has been getting longer and longer since it's inception. The amount of people who think they know baseball is insane. It's not the game you group with and that's okay , but baseball has a near 140 year history .. the game has evolved many times and it will continue to do so.

[@HolyShtATalkinMuffn]

The pitch clock sucks. And I'm tired of the media pushing it on us like it doesn't suck because it sucks