Top 10 Pitchers To Be Most Affected By Pitch Clock In 2023

15 seconds. With the bases empty, that's all major league pitchers will have now to throw a pitch. 20 seconds with men on base. The pitch clock has arrived in 2023, hopefully resulting in faster-paced games. 

And while the league average in 2022 was 18.2 seconds between pitches with the bases empty, and 23.8 seconds with men on base, there are quite a few hurlers around baseball that are going to need to step up the pace. 

So who will have the most trouble with the new 'speed it up' rules? 

Baseball Savant provides something called "Pitch Tempo Data" which measures how long, on average, a pitcher takes to throw a pitch. And according to that data, these are the ten pitchers who took the longest to come to the plate, on average, with the bases empty and therefore might be the ones to be affected most this season. 

1. Giovanny Gallegos     20.3 seconds
2. Aroldis Chapman        19.9
3. Kyle Finnegan             19.9
4. Kenley Jansen             19.0
5. Joe Kelly                       18.9
6. Emmanuel Clase         18.6
7. Hunter Strickland       18.3
8. Emilio Pagan                18.1
9. Josh Staumont             18.1
10. Jonathan Loaisiga        18.0

Gallego, Chapman and Jansen were also in the top 5 with runners on base.

By comparison, at the other end of the spectrum, the pitcher who has the least to worry about with the new pitch clock would seem to be Wade Miley, who really gets down to business, throwing a pitch (with bases empty) every 6.7 seconds. Bravo, Mr. Miley.

Photo: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports