Rich Hill has made his feelings known about some of MLB’s new rule changes, and the ex-Boston Red Sox pitcher sounded off on the pitch clock.
Hill, now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, is entering his 18th MLB season, so to say he’s used to his routine on the mound would be an understatement. Change is never easy, but the pitch clock is something all pitchers — and batters — will need to adjust to.
The 42-year-old Hill spoke to WEEI’s Rob Bradford on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast and explained why he takes issue with the new pitch clock.
“I believe that anytime you’re having an outcome that is in part because of a non-competitive act it’s not sports, it’s especially not baseball,” Hill told Bradford, as transcribed by WEEI. “I think that fans pay good money to come to a Major League Baseball game to watch the pitcher face the hitter and the hitter face the pitcher. … They don’t want to sit there … and see somebody come up to bat in a crucial situation in a tie ballgame and the pitcher on the mound in a crucial situation and the umpire call time and say ‘that’s strike three’ or ‘that’s ball four.’ That is the ultimate non-competitive act.
“These rules are in place to speed up the game and hopefully, not punish players. So if that’s what we’re trying to do why would we not just put another five seconds on the clock? I think that would alleviate a lot of things.”
We’ve seen the pitch clock make a difference in spring training games, with many of them finishing in under three hours. There have been pitch clock violations from both pitchers — including Hill — and hitters as they continue to adjust to the new normal.
Hill’s only been called for one violation this spring, but he’s of the (correct) belief it shouldn’t have been one in the first place.
“The umpire didn’t have his mask down so what we’re going through is this mirroring effect where we’re so used to seeing a natural progression and a flow of the hitter getting into the box, the umpire pulling the mask down, OK, now we step on the mound or vice versa,” he told Bradford. “Now it’s you just have to be ready, whatever you see it doesn’t matter, whoever gets there first.”
Hill specifically pointed to the Red Sox-Atlanta Braves spring training game that ended in a tie after a violation was called with a 3-2 count. Cal Conley was at the plate for Atlanta with Robert Kwiatkowski on the mound for Boston when Conley didn’t get set in the batter’s box in time and was assessed a third strike that ended the game.
“My issue is with taking away the opportunity like we saw in the game with the Braves and the Red Sox and you have no idea how that kid’s going to perform with bases loaded in a 3-2 count, or if that pitcher’s going to be able to make that pitch because oop, that’s it,” Hill told Bradford.
While Hill does make a good point, a regular season game won’t end in a tie and the game would just go into extra innings. Still, it’s now a rule that players will need to adjust to because (for now, anyway), the MLB pitch clock is here to stay.
