Here's How ESPN's MLB Production Team Is Adapting to the New Pitch Clock Rule changes spur broadcasters to modify their approach to baseball coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Monday, March 20, 2023 - 2:31 pm
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The first pitch of the 2023 MLB season has yet to be thrown, but much has already been made of the new pitch clock. Although the new rule - one of several intended to improve the pace of play this season - has forced pitchers and hitters to dramatically rethink their routines, broadcasters like ESPN are having to alter their approach to covering the game.
Whenever there are big rule changes like this, every [broadcaster] has to address and deal with documenting the action as the primary goal and using your discretionary time to the best of your ability, says ESPN VP, Production, Phil Orlins. Obviously, it feels like a dominant storyline during Spring Training, and I think it's going to feel like an important storyline the first couple of weeks of the season. But I do think it's going to naturally ebb and flow to where it becomes more routine as time goes on - for [broadcasters], players, and fans.
Orlins has a basis for the claim: the pitch clock was tested in the minor leagues last season, and violations dropped dramatically as players got more accustomed to the rule. Nonetheless, as the age of the pitch clock begins, production teams and announcers have had to fundamentally change the way they present the game to fans.
How the Pitch Timer Works As a result of the 30-second pitch timer between batters - along with the elimination of defensive shifts and addition of enlarged bases - games that previously pushed well past the three-hour mark are taking 2 hours or less during Spring Training.
According to the official MLB rulebook, between pitches, a 15-second timer will be in place with the bases empty and a 20-second timer with runners on base. The pitcher must begin his motion to deliver the pitch before the expiration of the pitch timer. Pitchers who violate the timer are charged with an automatic ball. Batters who violate it are charged with an automatic strike. Batters must be in the box and alert to the pitcher by the 8-second mark or be charged with an automatic strike.
MLB is instituting a 30-second pitch timer this season.
With runners on base, the timer resets if the pitcher attempts a pickoff or steps off the rubber. Pitchers are limited to two disengagements (pickoff attempts or step-offs) per plate appearance, but the limit is reset if a runner or runners advance. In the event of a third, unsuccessful pickoff attempt, the runner automatically advances one base.
Learning Curve During Spring Training The most important issue for broadcasters is how to present the pitch clock on-screen. Although most agree that it should be integrated into the miniboard (or scorebug) graphic, the debate continues on when: whether it should appear only during key moments (for example, 10 seconds left) or for the entire 30 seconds.
During Spring Training, many broadcasters were not given access to the pitch-clock data until seven seconds were left on the clock. As a result, many have opted to integrate the old-school camera shot of the clock (reminiscent of the NBA's shot clock half a century ago) into the miniboard graphic. During Spring Training coverage, ESPN puts the camera shot of the pitch clock just to the right of the miniboard graphic.
The way our miniboard lays out with a horizontal rectangle layout, notes Orlins, it happened to be easy to align the old-school camera shot alongside the miniboard and still work within our established space. It was definitely good to Get some Spring Training in [with the pitch clock], but, that said, we expect to get to the API-triggered data version in the miniboard on Opening Night and integrated into that same amount of space where we did the camera shot.
We're confident, he continues, that we're going to get access to the API for the pitch clock much earlier [in the at-bat] by Opening Night. We're in discussions on that right now. I think it's absolutely mandatory that we have it [displayed] before eight seconds since the batter has to be in the box and engaged at that point and probably well before that.
The Scorebug Impact During the regular season, ESPN plans to integrate the pitch clock into the scorebug alongside a pitch total along the bottom right of the miniboard and will incorporate additional graphical alerts as the clock gets closer to zero to indicate a pitcher or batter violation (see video example below).
I've never believed that constantly taking things in and out [of the miniboard] to make it more subtle was less intrusive to the viewer, says Orlins. For the most part, we are going to just leave [the pitch clock] there and let it roll so everyone can see it. When the viewer wants to find it, they'll find it; when they don't, it will be far less jarring than constantly bringing it in and out. If people see the clock count from 30 with the next hitter coming up, that's just fine. It's more comfortable and constantly available - just like the experience [for fans] at the ballpark.
Impact on the Front Bench Although the miniboard aspect is most apparent on-screen, the pitch clock's existential challenge to baseball coverage is at the front bench and in the announcers booth. The average time between batted-ball events in the middle of the 20th century was roughly 2 minutes, but today's directors, producers, and playcallers have typically had nearly four minutes on average between key moments.
Says Orlins, It's very similar to football, where [broadcasters] had a rhythm based on huddles after every play and then, inside the final two minutes, teams start going into hurry-up o
