AROUND THE HORN

MLB: The average time of a nine-inning major league game dropped for the first time since 2018, likely helped by the introduction of the PitchCom electronic device to signal pitches. The average this season was 3 hours, 3 minutes, 44 seconds. The figure declined from a record 3:10:07 last year and was the lowest since 3:00:44 in 2018. MLB’s average was 2:46 in 2005 and 2:33 in 1981. PitchCom allows catchers to input signs to a wristband device and pitchers to listen to audio tucked inside their cap. It has helped cut down the number of times pitchers stepped off the rubber to go over hand signals from catchers. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced last month that a pitch clock will be introduced in the major leagues next season, a decision made by the sport’s 11-man competition committee over the unanimous opposition of the panel’s four players. The clock will be set at 15 seconds with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners — up from the 14⁄19 tested at Triple-A this season and 14⁄18 at lower minor league levels. Average time of nine-inning minor league games dropped to 2:38 this season from 3:03 in 2021. There were 216 extra-inning games in the third season of the pandemic rule of placing a runner on second base in each extra frame, down from 233 last year and 78 during the shortened 2020 season. The longest this year was the Guardians’ 7-6, 15-inning win over the Twins in the second game of a doubleheader on Sept. 17. That was one inning shy of the longest in the three seasons of the rule, the Dodgers’ 16-inning road win against the Padres on Aug. 25, 2021. Home teams went 113-103 in extra-inning games this year and are 262-263 in extra innings since the runner on second rule started in 2020, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Home teams were 312-294 in extra-inning games from 2017-19, Elias said . ... Higher velocity and increased shifts led to the major league batting average dropping to .243, its lowest since 1968. Defensive shifts and 100 mph pitches set records this season, contributing to the worrisome offensive decline MLB is trying to address. When the average dropped this low more than a half-century ago, MLB lowered the pitcher’s mound. Next year’s rules changes announced last month include the first restriction on shifts, a decision made over the objection of the players’ association. “We’ve engaged in a process to develop rules that will bring back the best form of baseball,” Manfred said at the time. The major league average was .269 in 2006 but fell to .254 in 2016 and .245 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, then dropped by one point in each of the following years. The only seasons with lower averages than this year were the record low of .237 in 1968 along with 1967 and the deal-ball era seasons of 1884, 1888 and 1908. Defensive shifts on balls in play totaled 66,961 this season, Sports Info Solutions said Monday, up from 59,063 last year and 2,349 in 2011. The major league-best Dodgers led this year with 2,912 shifts and the Guardians had the fewest at 1,600. Batting average for left-handed hitters was .236 this year, down from .254 in 2016, when lefties were one point below the big league average. Luis Arraez’s .316 average for the Twins was the lowest by an AL batting champion since the Red Sox’s Carl Yastrzemski hit .301 in 1968. Velocity has a lot of do with the fall. There were 3,356 pitches of 100 mph of more, 0.05% of the major league total of 703,918, according to MLB Statcast. That was up from 1,829 in 2021 and 1,056 in 2019. The Twins’ Jhoan Duran had the most 100 mph pitches with 392, followed by the Reds’ Hunter Greene (337), Cardinals’ Jordan Hicks (274) and Ryan Helsey (237) and Mariners’ Andrés Muñoz (209). Duran averaged 100.8 mph with his fastball, Muñoz 100.2 and Hicks 100.1. The average four-seam fastball velocity was 93.9 mph, up from 93.7 mph in 2021 and 93.1 mph in 2015, when Statcast first began measuring. Home runs dropped to 5,215 from 5,944 last year and a record 6,776 in 2019. The gap between strikeouts and hits narrowed to 1,135 from a record 2,661 last year. Strikeouts topped hits for the first time in 2019. After increasing annually from 2005 through 2019, when there were a record 42,823 whiffs, strikeouts dropped to 42,145 in 2021 and 40,812 this year . ... Just over half of the 1,261 video review challenges made by teams in the major leagues were successful this season. MLB said 633 calls challenged by clubs were overturned, which comes to 50.2%. There were 240 calls confirmed and 388 allowed to stand — where there wasn’t enough evidence to confirm or overturn. Going into the final three days of the season, the Mets led with a 77.8% success rate, followed by the Cardinals (62.2%) and Guardians (61%). The A’s (38.5%) and the Dodgers (39.5%) were the least successful. In addition, there were 173 crew chief reviews initiated by umpires. MLB said 35 were overturned.