Cardinals Pitcher Faces Extreme Makeover With Pitch Clock

The pitch clock has been brought in this season to speed up the pace of games. No more will pitchers be able to take their sweet time before throwing each pitch. This means that St. Louis Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos has a serious adjustment to make. 

The worst offender in baseball last season for length of time between pitches, Gallegos has been working to speed up his delivery at camp this week, and in fact will be held out of his expected spring debut on Saturday to give him more time to adjust to the pitch clock. 

“It’s hard for me. It’s a new experience and a big challenge for me,” Gallegos said. “I am trying to make some adjustments about the timing, but it’s a big change... I'm still working on the timer and making some adjustments on my windup."

Pitchers now have just 15 seconds to deliver each pitch if there are no runners on base. It goes up to 20 seconds with runners on. 

According to Lynn Worthy of St. Louis Today, Gallegos' manager Oliver Marmol, however, doesn't want to hear any complaints from Gallegos or anyone else.

"I'm not overly concerned," Marmol said. "At the end of the day, toe the rubber and pitch. It's not a tough concept. He should be fine."

When it was suggested to him that the adjustments could be akin to a hitter making changes to a swing, Marmol scoffed. He reiterated, writes Worthy, that the timer isn't a mechanical change or overhaul of a delivery, it's just requiring a pitcher to do the same things, only faster.

From the first glance at the new pace of play in the first spring training games today, it's going to be a great new look for baseball.

Gallegos started last season as the Cardinals' closer, but eventually relinquished the job. He still finished with a 3.05 ERA and 73 strikeouts over 59 innings.

Photo: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports