MLB announces pitch clock for spring games, but no decision on regular season yet

A pitch clock will be coming to Major League Baseball spring training games. The league announced Friday that a pitch clock will be implemented during 2019 spring training.

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The move was expected. Rob Manfred revealed Sunday that a pitch clock would be used during spring training, but didn’t get into specifics on how it will be implemented.

The league released a statement Friday that outlined the three steps the league will take during spring training to enforce the pitch clock.

The first step involves … nothing. For early spring games, the pitch clock will be used, but not enforced. This will be done to make “players and umpires familiar with the new system.”

Next week, umpires will begin letting players know if they violated any rules. They will not, however, assess ball or strike penalties during this time. Once an inning is over, the umps will make sure the coaches are aware of any players who violated the rule during the inning.

The final step involves actually penalizing players for violating the pitch clock. This would happen later in spring training, but that depends on “the status of negotiations with the Major League Baseball Players Association.”

The spring training pitch clock will operate the same way as the clock currently used in the minor leagues. Batters must be in the batter’s box and ready with five seconds to go. Pitchers must begin their windups before the clock hits zero. The pitch clock will not be used before the first pitch of every at-bat.

Curiously, the league also left open the possibility of the pitch clock being used during the regular season, saying “no decision has been made on whether the timer will be used in regular season games.”

Manfred has the power to unilaterally implement a pitch clock — like he’s doing here — during the regular season. However, Manfred could risk further damaging the relationship between the players and the league if he goes through with that plan. The players fought against a pitch clock last offseason. Given how slowly the offseason has moved, players may not be eager to accept that proposal now.

That may not stop Manfred from doing it anyway, but it might not be worth the risk with so much tension building between both sides.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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