Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that Tuffy Gosewisch of the Diamondbacks received a written warning from MLB for violating pace-of-play rules because “he was not in the batter’s box within five seconds of the between-innings clock reaching zero.”
However, because Gosewisch is a catcher he feels there should be extra time allotted for him to take off the gear from the previous inning before leading off as a hitter:
I think they’re still feeling their way through it—they should be, at least. I think it can be a lot to ask if you have a catcher leading off and he’s got to get in, get all his gear off, get his helmet and gloves, if he wants any time to swing and put pine tar or put a bat weight on his bat. … I think players are trying to get used to it, too.
That’s a fair point and, really, anyone who has played baseball at even the little league level knows special consideration is often given to catchers in spots like this. Gosewisch also indicated that he doesn’t plan to change much even though “I’d rather not have a bunch of fines.”
