Pitcher finds a way
Stroman adapts to pitch clock en route to 10-8 win vs. Giants
MESA, Ariz. — Within minutes of completing his first spring start, Marcus Stroman already was plotting how his athleticism can give him an edge against Major League Baseball’s new pitch-clock rules.
Stroman seemed at ease within the constraints of the timer during his two innings Saturday against the San Francisco Giants at Sloan Park. At times Stroman began his delivery within five seconds of receiving the baseball with nobody on base. Then, at other points, he mixed it up and spent 11-12 seconds before getting into his windup. He has given glimpses of the varied timing of his approach over the years, including bullpens this spring.
The Cubs believe Stroman’s athleticism and ability to alter his delivery from pitch to pitch can turn into a major advantage for the right-hander with the pitch-clock rules in place.
“I’ve got some things coming,” Stroman said after allowing one run and two hits in two innings Saturday. “I’m not going to show any of them, but yeah, I’m definitely going to manipulate it and use it to my favor for sure.
“If they’re going to make us rush, then I’m going to find a way to be me out there no matter what. It’s something I truly don’t worry about. You just have to go out there attacking and put the whole pitch-clock thing in the back of your mind.”
Right-hander Adrian Sampson, vying for the final rotation spot, allowed three hits, one walk and four runs and struck out one in 1 ⅔ innings in the Cubs’ 10-8 win. Nico Hoerner, in the leadoff spot, and Trey Mancini each had two hits, and David Bote came off the bench to hit a three-run homer.
It is unclear how many pitch-clock violations occurred in the game.
Among the new rules, pitchers are given 15 seconds between pitches with nobody on base and 20 seconds with a runner on base. A batter must be in the box and looking at the pitcher before eight seconds remain. There were at least two violations and as many as five in Saturday’s game: three on Giants pitchers, one on a Cubs pitcher and one on a Giants hitter. MLB personnel in the designated pitch-timer booth in the press box said they can’t talk to media and wouldn’t confirm the violation number when asked for clarification near the end of the game.
Dansby Swanson thought the 15 seconds between pitches, without runners on base, felt “pretty freakin’ quick” and believes 18 seconds would be a better middle ground. However, he appreciates having consistency knowing most games will average around 2 ½ hours. The game Saturday took 3 hours, 6 minutes even with six Giants errors and 18 runs and 25 hits between the teams.
Learning the rhythm of each Cubs pitcher is also part of the process within the time constraints. The shift restrictions and larger bases were also in play Saturday, though the adjustments were not as obvious as the timer. Three stolen bases were attempted, all successful, including a swipe by Cubs top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong.
“I’m hoping it’s not the end-all, be-all, I think that there’s definitely some tweaks that can be made, but it’s going to be a change for everybody,” Swanson said. “And we can sit here and complain about them or whatever, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to embrace it and be able to put together our best performance because it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.
“But in a perfect world, there’s a couple tweaks that can be made, and with every rule that comes about there’s certain things that you can do to exploit that rule. So sometimes it can be like rules create more issues, right? But I think we’re just going to have to see how it plays out.”
Yan Gomes enjoyed his first game behind the plate with the time limit between pitches, citing how it kept up the tempo. These exhibition games are the first exposure to the pitch clock for many of the Cubs big-leaguers, easing them in within a lower-pressure environment. How that translates to late-inning regular-season games or the postseason when each pitch takes on greater importance is an unanswerable question right now.
“I feel like sometimes we were like going a little faster than normal (today), and I feel like we had some more time to go,” Gomes said. “It really brings the big-game environment every time, so once we (are) in Chicago, we’re going to start seeing big games late in the seventh, eighth inning and giving up a ball, giving up a strike or a balk, whatever it is, it’s going to mean a lot.
“So we’re going to have figure it out. But I can’t wait to see what that’s going to look like.”