After a largely successful first season for Major League Baseball’s sweeping rule changes, the league announced several tweaks for 2024, focusing on further improving the pace of play.
In 2023, nine-inning games averaged 2 hours and 39 minutes, down nearly 25 minutes from 2022 and the shortest since 1985 (2:40).
Some of the changes for 2024, voted on by the Competition Committee, will include shortening the pitch clock with runners on base and decreasing the number of mound visits.
The Competition Committee is made up of six owners, four players and an umpire. The MLB Players Associated released a statement after the league’s announcement that players had voted against the rule changes.
‘Immediate additional changes are unnecessary and offer no meaningful benefit,’ MLBPA director Tony Clark said. ‘This season should be used to gather additional data and fully examine the health, safety and injury impacts of reduced recovery time; that is where our focus will be.’
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Here’s what to know about the rule changes that baseball announced for 2024:
Pitch clock tweak
The time between pitches with runners on base is now 18 seconds, down from 20. With the bases empty, the pitch clock remains 15 seconds.
According to MLB, ‘pitchers began their deliveries with an average of 7.3 seconds remaining on the 20-second timer in 2023.’
Mound visits
The number of mound visits per team will be reduced from five to four.
MLB notes that teams only averaged 2.3 mound visits per game and that ‘98% of games would not have exceeded a limit of four mound visits’ last season.
Pitchers who warm up must face a batter
A pitcher who is sent to the mound to warm up between innings must now face at least one batter.
MLB says there were 24 occasions last season that a pitcher warmed up between innings and was replaced before throwing a pitch, ‘adding approximately three minutes of dead time per event.’
Wider runner’s lane
The runner’s lane towards first base will now include the space between the foul line and the infield grass. That adds 18 to 24 inches to the runner’s lane, which MLB explains ‘allows batters to take a more direct path to first base while retaining protection from interference.’
The league notes that some ballparks will be given ‘limited grace periods granted by MLB due to difficulty in modifying the field (e.g., synthetic turf field).’
