Burnes critical of pitch-clock change
GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Major League Baseball sent a memo out to teams in recent days with a new point of emphasis stating that pitchers cannot come set on the rubber until the batter is engaged and alert in the box.
This was news to Corbin Burnes. The Milwaukee Brewers ace learned of the new ruling from the league during the second inning of his start against the Cincinnati Reds at Goodyear Ballpark.
With a runner on first, Burnes took a long hold after receiving the sign from catcher William Contreras, prompting Reds batter Will Benson to step out of the box in a 0-0 count.
The pitch clock reset to 20 seconds, but Burnes didn’t budge on the mound. He wanted to attack Benson as quickly as possible yet was warned by home plate umpire Dan Merzel that he could not come set until Benson was engaged.
Benson waited until the 12-second mark of the clock to do so. Burnes, still engaged on the rubber but motionless, eventually came set and then ran the clock all the way down to one second before firing a cutter outside for a ball.
What appeared to be a standoff between Burnes and Benson was actually just a player learning of a new point of emphasis on the fly.
“I guess that was changed a few days ago and I didn’t know about it,” Burnes said.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell discussed the matter with Merzel after the inning.
“We’ve just got to figure out what they’re viewing as a quick pitch,” Counsell said. “So we’ve just kind of got to get a clarification.”
Burnes, one of the game’s best pitchers, voiced his displeasure with the league altering how it was enforcing the pitch clock.
“The league’s gotta do something about finalizing these rules,” Burnes said.
“Now that we’re two weeks away from the season starting, we’re still changing rules. That can’t happen. We’ve gotta get on top of that. Umpires are still trying to learn the rules as they go.
“The thought coming in was that everything was finalized and we had a month to kind of figure everything out and as we’re going, there are still things that we’re changing. That’s got to stop.
That’s got to be something that we have something finalized so these last two weeks we can get comfortable with them.
“I think a lot of players knew this was going to happen just because there were so many holes in all the rules that the league put in play.”
MLB’s new enforcement is in response to New York Mets starter Max Scherzer pushing the limits of quickpitching during his first spring start.
“After Scherzer did it, they waited a couple of days and then they sent some kind of clarification,” Counsell said.
An automatic ball was called during a plate appearance that ended in a walkoff walk during Friday’s game between the Dodgers and Angels.
“I think Scherzer exposed it, a lot of these guys that are trying to mess with it are exposing it and unfortunately now they’re making changes to it to try to eliminate some of that stuff,” Burnes said. “It just causes confusion and a lot of guys and umpires really don’t know what’s going on. It’s something that’s got to get cleaned up.”
Burnes and Counsell each noted how the pitcher may be rushed, especially with a runner on base, if he can’t come set until the eight-second mark.
“What happens then is the hitter doesn’t have to be engaged in the box until eight seconds and it takes a couple seconds to get set. The pitcher’s really only got five seconds to pitch, so that creates different timing as far as guys on base, it eliminates a little bit of uncomfortability in the box, the guy running it just shortens up your time frame,” Burnes said.
“It puts the hitter back in control after they’ve used a timeout. Originally, the way the rule was written, you couldn’t pitch until the hitter was engaged. It had nothing to do with coming set until the hitter was engaged and now that they’ve changed that, something needs to be adjusted with the pitch clock. There’s some wrinkles to figure out on that front, but it’s gotta get figured out here pretty quick.”
Or as Counsell succinctly summarized: “It kind of limits the pitcher’s time on the rubber, essentially. It puts the pitcher in hurry mode.”