IMO: Pro's & Con's of the Pitch Clock

The pitch clock was first introduced in the AFL in 2014 then followed in the coming years in the AA and AAA levels. Recently as 2019, the pitch clock was involved in spring training but has yet to be introduced due to the MLBPA voting strongly against it. As of 2019, the MLB and MLBPA have agreed to postpone talks on the pitch clock until 2022. The pace of play for the game, which is the biggest problem for the MLB, a pitch clock would help the game move quicker and be a little more exciting. If more pitches are thrown, give us more film and more spin rate data. I genuinely believe there will be more pitches thrown and more data to analyze by the team to help shift and how to play defense, which will give the teams more to watch. The pitching we will see will continue to get better. Increased fatigue, the 26 man roster is set up for the pitch clock as teams will need pitchers with more stamina. Those that can work faster can adjust to this. I think that pitchers will soon become like the NFL running back in terms of shorter shelf life and smaller window to get the best out of him. The birth of the "Opener," as we have seen recently, has become something in the last couple of seasons, which is excellent for guys with that skillset and can provide. With the pitch clock, I think this role becomes more of a thing and a need. The value of bullpen arms has increased, as we have seen. Great bullpen arms aren't cheap, especially with the rule change to a three batter minimum makes them more valuable. More home runs would be an effect of the pitch clock, this I think will be true because signs might be missed or miscommunicated and a mistake made and boom out of the park. We have some of the best hitters in the game now and only getting better quality pitchers because of the adjustments that have to be faster. I can see pitchers having almost to play call in a sense and know their stuff, which should help us understand a bump in just over the pitchers' IQ. In a pitch clock game, the catcher is the most valuable defensive player and kind of like the QB on the field. Good catchers and those who can control a game will be most valuable, and their costs will rise as we are already seeing. We get to see more action in the game; this, I think, is going to happen because we should see more hits, which gives us more defensive plays. Teams have to be quicker with defensive shifts- this is a fact; smart players who know and study the game will become more valuable. More comfortable to steal bases- the speedsters will have a day as well as those who kind of steal but get Acuna in this situation. The short amount of time and the pressure he puts on the P/C gives him more opportunity. Six-man rotation- I think because of the expected increase to fatigue, we will see more 6man rotations when this happens. Pitchers having less time to adjust- I was a pitcher when I played, and having an extra few seconds to get set, shake off a mistake you made are crucial. Without that, we may see some of the best starts to struggle when this happens. I think this happens in pen than anything, which will increase their value as I stated above. Less time to adjust defensively- I think as a con, we see more errors. We see defense become more valued again, and Gold Glove races become more competitive. So this can be a good as a bad thing. Pitches fatigue faster, which causes more injuries, and then the depth comes into play, and that not a good thing for a lot of teams. So less time between pitches means tired arms and maybe even more of 6 man rotation. The ERA would increase- to go to the pro of more HRs; this is the opposite of it, kind of a direct correlation. Pitchers don't settle in as quickly- we all love, well at least I do a good pitchers duel, the shut outs, the one-hitters, no-hitters, perfect game watches. Those will become less common and somewhat sad for me as a fan of pitching. The new three batter minimum for pitchers because some guys already have just enough gas to get through a typical inning now, but put a clock and add that in, uh oh. Overall, Once this happens, which I think it will, we will see a new breed of SP, RP, CP, and Openers and what not come into play. It will be an exciting time for baseball when it does happen. New names will take over. The game will be more fun to watch and follow. It will be more challenging to manage your roster of Pitchers from a Fantasy Baseball perspective.