This is not the intent of the pitch clock.
In fact, it’s a shining example for umpires of how not to implement it.
During the first inning of Monday’s game between the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals, Cubs centerfielder Seiya Suzuki fouled off a 3-1 slider from Royals starter Noah Cameron. The ball bounced off the dirt at Suzuki’s feet and straight back up into what’s frequently referred to in these instances as Suzuki’s groin.
But we all know where it hit him — where it hurts.
Thankfully for Suzuki, the blow appeared to be glancing. But even a glancing blow is cause for at least a moment of pause, which Suzuki took to walk things off.
By the time Suzuki got settled back into the batter’s box — in a more than reasonable amount of time, given the circumstances — the pitch clock had expired. And home plate umpire Clint Vondrak called Suzuki for a pitch-clock violation. The penalty for the violation was the third strike of Suzuki’s at-bat and the end of the inning.
Suzuki, commendably, walked calmly to the dugout without protest. Cubs manager Craig Counsell walked out of the dugout to take up Suzuki’s case.
Counsell gestured toward his own groin area while pleading with Vondrak to demonstrate the absurdity of the situation. When a baseball player gets hit in the, ahem, groin, with a baseball, he should automatically be provided with some leeway to get back to the batter’s box.
There’s no specific hit-in-the-groin exception in the language of MLB’s pitch timer rules. There shouldn’t have to be. The moment the ball hits a batter’s groin is the moment a timeout should be triggered. Suzuki shouldn’t have to call one. This is common sense.
There is leeway in the rulebook for an umpire to exercise common sense.
“Umpires may provide extra time if warranted by special circumstances,” the rulebook states.
This was a special circumstance. But Vondrak opted not to acknowledge it. Either that, or he missed what happened and didn’t take the time or effort to suss the situation out. Either way, this one’s on him.
