The Chicago White Sox are now nine games into their exhibition season. They are 5-4 but records are irrelevant during this time of year. What matters is evaluating individual players and how they are going to perform in the season ahead.
However, this year has a different wrinkle. There are some new rules in place for this season that everybody is using spring training to get used to. One of them is the pitch clock which is causing pitchers to work faster.
Pitchers have 15 seconds from the time they get the ball to make their next pitch. When there is a runner on base, that time bumps up to 20 seconds. The batter has to address the pitcher by the eight-second mark. Balls and strikes are the penalties for failing to comply depending on who is at fault.
This new rule is designed to make baseball games go quicker. It also has the potential to be more exciting because of the fact that it will be moving a lot faster. So many different aspects of the game are going to be changed by this new rule.
The Chicago White Sox have seen results from the new pitch clock.
There are going to be a lot of people that hate it. To be honest, it is fair to give it a chance but it is also a big change to a game that has been played one way for 100-plus years. With that said, the result that they want is coming out of the pitch clock.
#WhiteSox game times first 9 spring training contests 2023 vs. 2022:
— SoxNerd (@SoxNerd) March 6, 2023
2023/2022
1) 2:32/2:51
2) 2:36/3:10
3) 2:33/3:11
4) 2:28/2:58
5) 2:32/3:14
6) 2:33/3:11
7) 2:26/2:42
8) 2:48/2:58
9) 2:38/2:55
As you can see from the Tweet from Sox Nerd, games are mostly significantly shorter with the pitch clock in place. Game by game, every White Sox game in 2022 was longer than the same game in 2023.
One thing to note is that every game here in 2023 was a nine-inning affair. The first two games in 2022 were only seven-inning contests because of the lockout and they were still way longer without the pitch clock.
We don't know how this is going to help or hurt players or who gets the advantage but we will find out soon enough. Hopefully, the White Sox players all find a way to adjust quickly and make the best of it.