"But it will only be a 2:45 break if they're not ready to play baseball," Mitchell cautioned. Mitchell said that the between-inning clock would be set at 2:45 for those inning breaks, so that Zooperstars! would have more time to perform their skits (including, but not limited to, Tim Tebull 'Teabulling' on the field after a head-banging dance routine). On the night I was in attendance, touring inflatable mascot act Zooperstars! were performing at the ballpark. In the past I used to help him out with those, because four eyes are better than two." The official scorer helps me out with fielding or pitching changes. "You really can't watch the game and enjoy it like you used to," he said. The 20-second countdown begins once the pitcher is within the circle of the mound, ball in hand. Mitchell says that his only "breaks" during the game come after he has announced the first batter of the inning, as the pitch clock does not begin until after the first pitch has been thrown and the ball has been returned to the pitcher. At first I was a bit nervous about it because there's a lot going on." "I've been doing for quite some time now, and we just figured it was best to have a person who's gonna pay attention to the game and have a good view to do the pitch clock," said Mitchell. It's entirely touchscreen numbers can be entered manually or selected from commonly used pre-sets, with the all-important "start," "stop," and "reset" buttons located vertically along the right side of the screen. Beyond these, but still at arm's length, sits a black tablet computer from which Mitchell controls the game clock. Directly in front of him is his microphone, which is surrounded by a small, unruly stack of papers listing the starting lineups, roster information and the evening's game script. Mitchell, now in his fourth season as the Suns' PA announcer, sits on the far left side of the Suns press box. I caught up with Wes prior to April 18's Southern League game, which was the ninth contest of an eventual 20-game, season-opening homestand. It starts with the man (or woman) who's got to operate the thing, and at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville - the home of the Suns - that man is public address announcer Wes Mitchell. This all takes some getting used to, and not just for the individuals on the field. The clocks, which have been installed both behind the plate and in the outfield at all 60 Double-A and Triple-A ballparks, count down 20 seconds between pitches as well as two minutes and 25 seconds between innings. Baseball, the eternal game, is finally attempting to pick up the pace a little bit. The implementation of the pitch clock within all Double-A and Triple-A leagues this season, at the behest of Major League Baseball, has been and will remain a compelling story. "Thus, more than any other sport, the game admits of infinity."īaseball's relationship with the infinite remains in good standing - after all, a game could theoretically last forever - but temporality has caught up to it in the form of the pitch clock. Nicholas James Mount in the Encyclopedia of Time. "Baseball is a game without clocks, a game that possesses the unique ability to escape temporality itself," wrote Dr.
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