Chris Bassitt complains about pitchers needing to work even faster with runners on base. MLB is dropping the time to deliver the ball to the plate from 20 seconds to 18 seconds. Note that Bassitt doesn’t complain about the pitch clock change directly, he puts his complaint in the context of the first derivative:

“I mean, the fact that we’re changing rules yet again … when is this going to stop?” Bassitt said on a rainy Sunday at the Jays’ player development complex. “We just need consistency in our game and the officials are just not providing that at all.

“We’re yet again having to learn new rules. So hopefully in 2025 we stop doing this charade.”

TorontoSun.com

In terms of pace with men on base, Bassitt needed to make a big adjustment in 2023. While he worked decently fast with the bases empty before the rule change, he worked about five to six seconds slower with men on base. In 2023, that difference dropped to three seconds slower. I suspect Bassitt liked the time to think about the situation, the time to study base runners, and so forth. A lot of players must believe they get an advantage by slowing the game down.

It’s one reason baseball might have been better off going for a monetary rewards system to speed up the game. The batters and pitchers who came in under a 20 second pace would receive rewards in the millions of dollars. That would be a big deal to someone making the league minimum, while a veteran like Bassitt could decide to keep a slow pace in runners on base situations, since his contract is already large. With luck, the young players who take advantage of the bonuses would keep the faster pace going throughout their careers, and the need for the incentive would wane over time.