Watch: Phillies closer battles pitch clock
Those who watched Craig Kimbrel close out the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday bore witness to an epic battle.
No, not between Kimbrel and the D-backs' hitters, but rather between the veteran and something new – the pitch clock. While he retired all three Arizona hitters he faced to close out Philadelphia's 5-4, he also committed the same amount of pitch clock violations.
Kimbrel is one of many veteran pitchers who have had to change the way they pitch with the introduction of the pitch clock, which limits the time between pitches.
He hasn't averaged under 20 seconds per pitch (with empty bases) since 2013, based on baseballsavant.com's data with 22.7 seconds between bases-empty pitches in 2022. So far he's been able to manage the change with some success, recording just one violation before Thursday's debacle while recording 42 strikeouts and 13 walks along with 10 saves.
Across the league it seems that pitchers have become used to the time limit. The Tampa Bay Rays lead all MLB with 22 pitcher clock violations per FanGraphs, or a little more than one every three games. Kenley Jansen is the only other pitcher besides Kimbrel to record three clock violations in a single inning.
From a neutral's perspective, many of the new rules have made baseball more fun to watch.
The pitch clock cuts through lots of the downtime in the game without taking away any actual baseball action. A new shift rule limits where infielders can play defense, leading not only to more hits but more exciting defensive plays. And larger bases have encouraged teams to attempt more stolen bases.
Will people feel the same way if a World Series game is decided on a pitcher taking too long to throw? Probably not, but hopefully we won't find out.
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