MLB Announces Rule Changes for Pitch Clock, Mound Visits, More for 2024 Season

While Major League Baseball will not see rule changes that are as drastic in 2024 as they were in 2023 when it introduced the pitch clock, there will reportedly be some differences during the upcoming campaign.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today shared some of them, including the reduction of the pitch clock from 20 seconds to 18 when runners are on base. What's more, teams will be given four mound visits per game instead of five:

It should be noted teams that do not have any mound visits remaining in the ninth inning will be given an extra one. What's more, pitchers can step off the mound twice without penalty to reset the pitch clock.

MLB also decided to widen the runner's lane so batters can more directly approach first base and still not worry as much about interference.

Yet the pace-of-play rule tweaks stand out the most.

"MLB proposed minor changes to the Pace of Game Regulations to address an increase in game time as the season progressed," the announcement read. "The average nine-inning game time increased seven minutes from April to September (five minutes after controlling for the number of pitches, breaks and runs scored)."

However, the MLBPA was not thrilled with the proposals:

"Players strongly feel that, following last season's profound changes to the fundamental rules of the game, immediate additional changes are unnecessary and offer no meaningful benefits to fans, players or the competition on the field," MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in the statement.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported in November that players are primarily concerned that reducing the pitch clock could lead to more injuries with less time to recover. Yet the league said there is no evidence suggesting the reduced clock will lead to more pitcher injuries.

This comes after the average time of nine-inning games last season was under two hours and 40 minutes. That stands in stark contrast to 2022 when the average game was three hours and four minutes or 2021 when the average time was three hours and 10 minutes.

What's more, MLB drew a total attendance of 70,747,365 last season, marking the first time it broke the 70 million mark since 2017.