Cubs minor-league managers, coaches weigh in on pitch clock and how to make it better

PITTSBURGH — When the Cubs return to Wrigley Field for their final homestand of the season, High-A South Bend manager Lance Rymel is scheduled to meet them there, fresh off a Midwest League Championship.

“I’m anxious to pick his brain about a -couple things with the new rules,” Cubs -manager David Ross said last week.

Major League Baseball has used the minors as a testing ground for rule changes, three of which are set to come to the big leagues next year: the pitch clock, defensive shift restrictions and bigger bases.

The latter two haven’t made the kind of waves in the minors that the pitch clock has. Defensive shifts aren’t nearly as common in Single-A, High-A and Double-A — where MLB tested the restrictions — compared to the major leagues. And playing with bigger bases is a straightforward transition.

The pitch clock, however, has dramatically trimmed average game times. Earlier this month, MLB announced that with the pitch clock, the average nine-inning game time in the minors went from three hours and four minutes last season to two hours and 38 minutes — a difference of 26 minutes.

“It’s been awesome this year for our pitchers to get the ball and pitch instead of waiting 30 seconds before the pitch,” Rymel said in a conversation with the Sun-Times a couple weeks ago, during South Bend’s last regular-season series. “It speeds it up, the fans enjoy it. It’s not that much of a difference, just a quicker pace. It’s a good, quick pace. It’s not too quick, it’s perfect.”

Triple-A Iowa Cubs manager Marty Pevey said he was skeptical of the pitch clock when MLB announced its introduction to the minor leagues. Now he says he loves it.

“Once I saw how it helped the progression of the game — the main thing I’m on board with is building a bigger baseball fan base,” he said.

MLB has tweaked aspects of the rule.

Major-leaguers will have a little more time on the clock. Minor-league pitchers had 14 seconds to begin their motion with no runners on base and 18 or 19 seconds, depending on the level, with at least one runner on to start their motions. Major-league pitchers will have 15 seconds when the bases are empty and 20 with a runner on.

While minor-league hitters had to look up with at least nine seconds left on the clock, major-league hitters will get until there are eight seconds remaining.

Pevey has some other ideas about how to improve the rule. He said he filled out a survey for MLB on the rule changes and wrote that pitchers should get 20 seconds on the clock no matter if there are runners on or not.

“What should happen is when a pitcher comes set, the clock should stop,” Pevey said. “They should be able to hold the ball. Because if you can hold the ball, you control the running game, right. But if you can’t hold the ball, you can’t control the running game. Especially if you get a couple of throw overs. Now they extend their lead [off the base], and you’ve got bigger bases.”

The pitch clock comes along with a step-off limit for pitchers. They can disengage the rubber twice per plate appearance — to pick off a runner or just reset the clock — without penalty. If a pitcher steps off a third time, he’ll be called for a balk, unless it’s a successful pickoff and the runner is thrown out.

“I’m not a big fan of that, because then it takes away the strategy of somebody who knows what they’re doing, knowing how to hold runners.” I-Cubs pitching coach Ron Villone told the Sun-Times. “And in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning of a Major League Baseball game, you should be able to have that ability to pick somebody off a third time. So, you’re handcuffing a pitcher a little bit.”

In the minor leagues, the step-off counter never reset mid-plate appearance. In the majors, at least, it will when a runner advances.

On the other hand, Villone, a former MLB pitcher, said he doesn’t understand why some pitchers take so long in between pitches.

“My thing is, if it changes the baseball game, the outcome of a win or a loss, it’s a problem,” he said of the pitch clock. “But if you can systemize it a little bit and make it very fair and very consistent, I’ve got no issues.”