The new MLB rules implemented in the 2023 season have had their fair share of ridicule.
For super agent Scott Boras, the introduction to the pitch clock has him, and some of his pitcher clients, concerned about possible injuries.
Boras suggests adding a couple of extra roster spots to assist pitchers who get worn out by the new, rushed warmup process.
“We need 27, 28-man rosters because we’ve got to protect the starting pitchers. Pitch clock is gassing a lot of these guys, it’s very difficult now to get through five innings,” Boras said on the ‘Baseball Isn’t Boring’ podcast. “I think we’ve definitely got to extend the number of pitchers we have on the major league teams. We’re going to see a whole host of guys with 65, 75 appearances out of the bullpen, we’ve got to cut that back.”
Boras makes a good point. It’s been a while since starting pitchers threw into the seventh inning and beyond. Just 12 pitchers have thrown complete games this season alone out of 240 starters.
Bullpens have a larger workload than ever.
Boras suggested a pitching staff of 14-15.
“That would allow for clubs to … keep your starters’ innings down, and also have a bullpen where you keep your number of appearances by your bullpen down.”
“We can increase the health of our pitching at the big league level, increase the quality of our game, allow managers to not extend quality relievers, and we can stop position players from throwing so many innings, which makes the game look ridiculous,” Boras added. “Those are the kinds of things that we can adjust.”
The reasoning behind the new rules was to speed up the game and provide more entertainment for fans. As of May 25, nine-inning games and decreased by 28 minutes, averaging 2:37 per game. Last season, the average game lasted 3:05.
According to the league, pitchers have begun their deliveries with 6.6 to 8.1 seconds left on the timer which has indicated pitchers have significant time left to execute pitches.
