Baseball on the clock today

Associated Press

GOODYEAR, Ariz.

During his playing career, Mike Hargrove’s unique routine at the plate went something like this: step into the batter’s box, adjust gloves, brush lip, tap cleats with bat to remove dirt, check helmet, tug at jersey sleeve, hitch up pants, check right thumb protector. Repeat.

Every pitch.

It earned him a classic nickname, “The Human Rain Delay.”

These days, Hargrove’s ritual — he claims it only lasted 19 seconds — would not only be frowned upon, but possibly get him fined under Major League Baseball’s new pace of play initiatives designed to speed up a game many purists believe doesn’t need more tinkering.

“Grover would be playing for free,” joked Indians skipper Terry Francona.

Today, the new pace of play rules will be introduced on the field in five exhibition games in Arizona and Florida.

To this point, players have adopted a let’s-see-what-happens stance about hitters being required to keep one foot in the batter’s box, pitchers needing to complete their warm-up tosses within a certain time period, managers staying in the dugout for instant replay challenges and generally everyone keeping the game moving along.

For the first time, baseball, the summer game romanticized by generations for its timelessness, will be on the clock. And those newly installed clocks will be in full view for fans.

Once there are three outs, inning breaks will be counted down from 2 minutes, 25 seconds for locally televised games and 2:45 for nationally televised games. Pitchers must throw their last warm-up pitches before 30 seconds remaining and the batter must be in the box from 20 to 5 seconds left.

MLB, with the blessing of the players’ union, is hoping to shorten the length of games — the average was just more than three hours in 2014 — and eliminate delays to make it more appealing to TV audiences and those in the stands.

During spring games and through regular-season games in April, players will not face any discipline should they not adhere to the clock or an umpire’s suggestion to stay in the box.

That changes on May 1, when players can be fined. But on the eve of baseball’s spring timing experiment, everyone wondered what might be ahead.

“I hope it’s not a distraction,” Kansas City center fielder Lorenzo Cain said as the Royals dodged the rain Monday in Surprise, Arizona. “I definitely don’t want to get fined, I need all my money. I definitely don’t want to get fined. I’m going to do the best I can. If it’s the rule, we have to try to abide by the rules and just go from there.”