The three teams of Lotte Giants, LG Twins and Doosan Bears are “best practices” teams with less than 1.0 pitch clock violations warning per game during exhibition games. Not only these three teams, but most of the players from the 10 KBO League teams are adapting to this unfamiliar rule faster than expected. The number of violations per game decreased from 7.8 on the first day to 2.3 on the fourth day.

With the opening of the exhibition game on Friday, the KBO introduced Major League-style rules for pitch clock, shift limit, and base size expansion along with ABS (Automatic Pitcher Judgment System). However, the Korean Baseball Organization has decided to only give warnings without penalty of ball count for now, and will not apply the rules to restrict pitch departure, such as restriction of check, to help players adapt to the rules. Unlike other rules and regulations, the Korean Baseball Organization believes that it needs more time to adapt.

Still, there are voices of opposition and concern at the scene. “Pitch-clocking seems to be a bit early. Players have been warned a lot. Of course, we need to prepare quickly, but I think there will be confusion,” manager Kim Tae-hyung said on Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s right to change baseball itself to reduce the duration of games. We need to reduce unnecessary things little by little. How can we reduce the mismatch between pitchers and catchers?”

“I was worried that it would affect the players’ performance,” SSG coach Lee Sung-yong said. “I should focus on the players’ performance, but I think they will be concerned. So I hope they give more thought to it.” KT coach Lee Kang-chul also expressed his disapproval of Peach Clock from the beginning of the exhibition game, claiming to be the “opposition.”

LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop and Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop, Samsung manager Park Jin-man and NC manager Kang In-kwon voted for the rule in public. “It’s a personal opinion, but I think we have to do it no matter what. If we establish it well, it won’t be bad, and I think it needs to be implemented,” Kang said. “It’s not a rule that came out of nowhere this winter, but it’s been discussed since last year’s supervisors’ meeting,” he added.

Choi Won-ho said he agreed to use Peach Clockwork on the premise that it will introduce PeachCom (sign exchange equipment) together. KBO will also allow PeachCom to be used in games as soon as the radio wave certification process is completed.

At an exhibition game at five stadiums nationwide on Tuesday, a whopping 39 warnings were issued for Peach Clock violation. However, 25 were given for batters, and 14 were given for pitchers’ violations. Pitchers followed the rule of starting pitching within 18 seconds when relatively no runners were present and 23 seconds when there were runners, but it seemed that batters were having a hard time under the rule that Peach Clock should prepare for batting before marking eight seconds.

However, players were adapting very quickly. The next day, the number of warnings for Peach Clock violations decreased to 20 in five games held on Sunday. Pitchers violated the rules by eight times (six). In a game between the LG Twins and the KT Wiz at Suwon Stadium, only the batter received two warnings.

On Wednesday, the number decreased from five games to 13 games. In the game between the Kiwoom Heroes and the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park, no pitch clock warning was issued for the first time in this season’s exhibition game. On Wednesday, nine warnings were issued in four games except for the game between Doosan and Lotte, which became no-game. There was no pitch clock violation in the game between LG and Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu.

Pitch Clock Violation Warning by 12th

39 times on the 9th → 20 times on the 10th → 13 times on the 11th → 9 times on the 12th
7.8 times per game → 4.0 times → 2.6 times → 2.3 times per game
LG Doosan Lotte, which ranks first at least, is less than 1.0 times per game

Three times in four LG games (bat 2, two 1)
Doosan 3 times in 3 games (bat 2, 2 to 1)
Lotte 3 times in 3 games (bat 3, 2 0)
5 times in 4 games for Samsung (bat 4, throw 1)
Hanwha 4 games 8 times (bat 4, two four)
10 times of kt 4 games (bat 5, two 5)
SSG 4 games 12 times (Ta 5, 2 7)
NC 4 games 12 times (bat 10, two)
12 times in 4 games of KIA (bat 5, two seven)
13 times in Kiwoom 4 games (bat 5, two eight)

It has already been proven that professional baseball players in the Major League quickly adapt to the new rules. In 425 MLB games held in March and April last year, a total of 306 Peach Clock violations occurred (210 for pitchers, 96 for batters, and 0.72 per game). In 422 games between September and October, the number of Peach Clock violations decreased to just 106 (79 for pitchers, 27 for batters, and 0.25 per game), down to one-third at the beginning of this season 핑크알바.

The number of games in which no Peach Clock violation occurred was 66 percent of all games. In the second half of the year, the figure stood at 74 percent, three times the number of games in which there was no Peach Clock violation. Forty-nine percent of pitchers who threw more than 100 pitches, and 68 percent of batters who faced more than 100 pitches did not violate Peach Clock even once throughout the season. Although it is a pilot operation, KBO League players are also trying to accept the new rule. The Peach Clock violation warning was 39 times per game on Saturday alone, and dropped to 7.8 times per game on Wednesday, before falling to 2.3 times per game on Wednesday.

KBO is also actively accepting opinions from the field and inducing a soft landing by introducing pitch clock. In the game on Wednesday, there was a scene where pitchers did not immediately give warning even though they could see pitch clock violations. Instead, after the pitch was over, the referee verbally warned the pitcher on his spot and delivered the warning to the recorder. Even if the pitcher started pitching until Sunday, the referee first issued a warning. In some cases, pitchers suddenly stopped pitching.

Oh Seok-hwan, chairman of the KBO’s referee committee, said on Tuesday, “As referees are running games, they have decided that warning after a pitcher enters a wind-up could lead to injury. So, the timing of warning will be eased. That’s how I started today.”

Oh Seok-hwan, chairman of the committee, said, “The coaches on the field are raising questions, but the Peach Clock is not to regulate, but to shorten time and create dynamic games. There are no sanctions now, but warnings are given to make people know (the Peach Clock Rules). In the regular season, gestures are not made much, but warnings are likely to be given to verbal communication.”