Changes coming for 2024:
The MLB Competition Committee approved a reduction of time allowed between pitches with runners on base from 20 seconds to 18 seasons. MLB claimed pitchers began their deliveries with an average of 7.3 seconds remaining on the 20-second clock in 2023. Pitchers will still be allowed to step off the rubber and reset the timer up to twice without penalty.
Allotted mound visits for each team are reduced from five to four per game. An extra mound visit will be awarded in the ninth inning if the team on defense has no mound visits remaining at the end of the eighth inning.
The pitch timer will restart after a dead ball when the pitcher has the ball and play is ready to resume. The pitcher will not be required to be on the mound for the timer to start.
A pitcher who warms up on the field between innings must face at least one batter (in addition to requirements necessary to meet the three-batter minimum rule). MLB cited 24 instances in 2023 when a pitcher warmed up between innings and was replaced before he threw a pitch. It happened twice during the World Series. MLB said those instances added approximately three minutes of “dead time.”
The runner’s lane to first base is widened to include the dirt between the foul line and the infield grass. The distance between the foul line and the infield grass will be between 18 and 24 inches in all ballparks.