MLB rule changes for 2024 include a shorter pitch clock

A tighter 18-second pitch clock with runners on base… a new, wider runner’s lane between home and first base… one fewer mound visit.

All of these rule changes are coming to Major League Baseball in 2024, as part of a series of adjustments and changes announced by MLB on Thursday. The Athletics Initially, many of these proposals were reported at general manager meetings in early November. They were formally approved by the competition committee on Thursday. The most notable changes are these:

The pitch clock: With runners on base, pitchers have 18 seconds between pitches, compared to 20 this year. MLB proposed the change after seeing the average time of a nine-inning game grow by more than seven minutes, from 2 hours and 36 minutes in April to 2:44 in September.

The runner track: After years of complaints, MLB will increase the foul area along the first base line by six inches next season. Runners argued for years that the current runner’s track forced them to weave between right and wrong territory on the way to first base. This change is intended to give runners the opportunity to take a more direct route from home to first, without the risk of being called for interference.

Fewer mound visits: The number of mound visits will shrink from five per team, per game to four, although teams that have used up their allotment will receive one additional visit in the ninth inning, as in the past. Mound visits increased slightly in 2023 as teams began using them as a way to prevent pitch violations. But MLB says mound visits are still among fans’ least popular events in a game in surveys. And teams used more than four visits in only about 2 percent of all games this year. Another subtle change: To help tighten the pace of games, catchers are now allowed to request a mound visit to avoid a clock violation, but do not actually have to go through the formality of getting to the mound.

There were three other adjustments to the rules:

• MLB will shave 15 seconds off the time relievers have to warm up if they leave the bullpen late after a mid-inning pitching change. They now have two minutes to complete warm-ups from the moment they leave the bullpen, instead of the previous 2:15.
• After a foul ball, the pitch clock will start as soon as the pitcher has the ball and all fielders have returned to their positions. The language in the previous rule required the clock to pause until the pitcher was back on the mound, allowing pitchers to stop by taking time to return to the mound.
• Also, every pitcher who now warms up at the start of an inning will have to face at least one batter. That change comes in response to an increase in the number of times a pitching change occurred after a pitcher warmed up before the start of an inning – usually after the announcement of a pinch hitter. Now the pitcher must remain in the game for at least one more batter, even if the batting team has made a lineup change. According to MLB, there have been 24 times this season — plus two in the World Series — where a pitcher warmed up between innings but left without facing a batter in that inning.

Three other proposed changes will not (yet) be implemented. After players voiced their objections, MLB withdrew a proposal that would have required the umpire to immediately restart the pitch clock after a batter called a timeout. There are no plans now to move forward with that change, according to major league sources familiar with these discussions.

However, a proposed change that would tighten the language around base-blocking outfielders is still under discussion – and could still be implemented before 2024.

There is also still talk of a rule requiring all pitchers to work from the stretch with every runner on base. Starters have objected to that proposal because they prefer to work from the wind-up with a runner in third place. And relievers are concerned because more and more have adopted a “hybrid” delivery — part wind-up, part stretch — as a strategy to manage the running game.

The changes announced Thursday will all take effect next year, starting during spring training. MLB has predicted that they could reduce the time of the average game by about five minutes. The changes follow more than a month and a half of discussion, during which MLB and the league committee surveyed players, managers, coaches, front offices and owners about how each idea would affect the game.

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(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)