Kershaw won’t waste his time on new pitch clock
A day after Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the league would implement a 20-second pitch clock during spring-training games and could possibly institute the clock for the upcoming regular season, Clayton Kershaw said he would ignore the new measure.
“I’m not going to pay any attention to it,” the Dodgers left-hander said Monday. “And if I go over it then I go over. I’m not going to change anything I do.
“I’m not going to pay attention to it one bit, and if it becomes a problem I guess I’ll have to deal with it then. But I think there’s ways to fake it. If it looks like it’s winding down or something you can step off. I’m sure there are ways around it.”
The idea of a pitch clock has faced resistance from players, but MLB sees it as a way to quicken the pace of play. Manfred has the power to unilaterally implement the rule but has been reluctant to apply it without an agreement with the players’ union.
Kershaw said everyone is in favor of moving the game along, but he’s not convinced a pitch clock will help.
“The commissioner’s office wants pace of play, but the game has changed so much that there’s so many swings and misses, there’s so many strikeouts, there’s so many home runs, there’s so many fill-in-the-blank. It’s like almost two steps forward, one step back type situation,” Kershaw said.
“So I’d be interested to see if the game clock actually makes a difference.”
A 20-second pitch clock was introduced in double A and triple A in 2015. Rich Hill appeared in 30 triple-A games that season, making him one of the few veteran major leaguers with experience performing under a time limit.
He is not in favor of instituting it at the major league level.
“I don’t really like it,” Hill said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Hill, 38, noted that he works too quickly to be affected by a clock, but was adamant that the measure could have a negative effect on the game.
“What’s the end goal of being able to have a time clock?” Hill said. “Is it to fit baseball games in a threehour window so we can sell it to networks? I think there has to be a serious conversation about this because I don’t think it’s going to make any difference. We’re going to speed up the game by five minutes? Is that 10 minutes going to make a difference? I don’t think so.
“Or is it somebody else’s agenda because they want to leave their mark on the game to say, ‘Look what I did?’ as opposed to leave the game alone? Leave it alone. In my opinion, it’s great the way it is.”
Ace faces hitters
Kershaw faced hitters for the first time, throwing a 22pitch batting practice session.
He used everything in his arsenal against catchers Russell Martin and Josh Thole, who each batted twice before Kershaw finished his workday with a short bullpen session.
Toles fails to report
The Dodgers announced that outfielder Andrew Toles did not report to camp because he is “dealing with a personal matter.”
“We aren’t sure when Andrew will arrive but he has been in contact with the organization and has our full support,” the Dodgers said in a statement.
Toles, 26, was the only one not to report with the team’s position players.
Every other player had arrived at Camelback Ranch by Sunday.
Toles is expected to compete for an outfield spot on the opening-day roster. A.J. Pollock, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson and Alex Verdugo, in addition to utility-men Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor, are the club’s other major league outfielders.
After a promising beginning to his major league career in 2016, in which he compiled an .870 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 48 games and earned a spot on the postseason roster, Toles suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in 2017.
He spent most of last season with triple-A Oklahoma City and appeared in 17 games for the Dodgers.
Extra bases
Corey Seager, who is clearing the final hurdles in his rehab following elbow ligament-replacement and arthroscopic hip surgeries, stood in against left-hander Josh Smoker for a batting practice session, but did not take any swings. The shortstop did swing at pitches from coach Dino Ebel, fielded ground balls and threw from 135 feet . ... Righthander Ross Stripling rejoined the team after being away the previous three days because of flu.