Daniel Nava and the Human Rain Delays
Earlier this offseason, as part of an info-taining post illustrating the influence a single batter can exert on game pace, Jeff discovered that Marwin Gonzalez was taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r between pitches this past season.
I followed up shortly after that with a piece in defense of pitchers, as I suspected much of the blame for the slowing pace of play could be assigned to batters.
While the hot stove is slowly warming this offseason, let us not forget that the biggest change we’ll observe in major-league stadiums next season could be the appearance of pitch clocks. Buster Olney reported last month that the introduction of a pitch clock is a distinct possibility.
In my piece from earlier his offseason, I noted that pace quickened in the PITCHf/x era only when specific rules were instituted and enforced in 2015 — in particular, a rule demanding that batters keep a foot in the box at all times unless certain exemptions had been met, like swinging at a pitch or being knocked down by one. But MLB and the MLBPA later agreed to do away with the threat of monetary penalty. After that, pace again began to slow.
While it’s difficult to assign credit for pace when searching leaderboards, we do know that last season featured 17 of the 25 slowest pace seasons by team, as documented in the following table.
| Rank | Team | Season | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angels | 2017 | 25.2 |
| 2 | Red Sox | 2017 | 25.1 |
| 3 | Rays | 2017 | 24.9 |
| 4 | Astros | 2017 | 24.8 |
| 5 | Yankees | 2017 | 24.8 |
| 6 | Twins | 2017 | 24.8 |
| 7 | Tigers | 2017 | 24.8 |
| 8 | Rockies | 2017 | 24.7 |
| 9 | Dodgers | 2014 | 24.7 |
| 10 | Rangers | 2017 | 24.6 |
| 11 | Nationals | 2014 | 24.6 |
| 12 | D-backs | 2017 | 24.5 |
| 13 | Nationals | 2016 | 24.4 |
| 14 | Giants | 2016 | 24.4 |
| 15 | Mariners | 2017 | 24.3 |
| 16 | Angels | 2014 | 24.3 |
| 17 | Brewers | 2014 | 24.3 |
| 18 | Rockies | 2014 | 24.2 |
| 19 | Nationals | 2017 | 24.2 |
| 20 | Dodgers | 2017 | 24.2 |
| 21 | Athletics | 2017 | 24.2 |
| 22 | Braves | 2017 | 24.2 |
| 23 | Yankees | 2013 | 24.2 |
| 24 | Giants | 2017 | 24.2 |
| 25 | Red Sox | 2013 | 24.1 |
And as far as individual culprits, there was one batter even slower than Gonzalez, if we lower the plate-appearance threshold to 100: Daniel Nava, who averaged 29.7 seconds between pitches.
In fact, Nava’s 2017 was the slowest batter pace on record in the PITCHf/x era.
To gain a feel and understanding of what exactly is holding up Nava, I took a look at one game against a league-average pace pitcher in 2017, Atlanta’s Luke Sims (24.1 seconds). From this one-game sample size, we begin to get a sense of why Nava was historically slow.
Nava is among those batters who are egregious violators of Rule 6.02 (d) which states:
“The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout the batter’s time at bat, unless one of the following exceptions applies, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding
home plate:(i) The batter swings at a pitch;
(ii) The batter is forced out of the batter’s box by a pitch;
(iii) A member of either team requests and is granted “Time”;
(iv) A defensive player attempts a play on a runner at any base;
(v) The batter feints a bunt;
(vi) A wild pitch or passed ball occurs;
(vii) The pitcher leaves the dirt area of the pitching mound after receiving
the ball; or
(viii)The catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals.”
On Aug. 28. 2017 in Philadelphia, Nava didn’t seem to be aware of or have much respect for Rule 6.02 (d).
I employed QuickTime Player’s time stamps to see exactly how long Nava was spending outside the box. In his first plate appearance, he departs the box after a called ball. It takes about 17 seconds for him to return to a hitting position in the box. Nava brushes the ground with a toe, leaves the box, appears to clear his sinuses, then returns.
In his second plate appearance, he departs the box again after a called strike, causing a 14-second interlude before he is again ready to hit.
The following pitch, a called ball, offers another pause in play, this one about 14 seconds. Sims is clearly ready to pitch and is waiting on Nava.
These are painfully slow, action-less GIFs. These durations of non-action are seemingly unnecessary. And Nava is hardly the only offender.
The following table contains the top-50 human rain delays of the PITCHf/x era (min: 100 plate appearances in a season). Notice that there are a number of repeat offenders, like Robinson Cano, Danny Espinosa, Hanley Ramirez. This is more evidence to suggest that hitters are largely to blame.
| Rank | Name | Season | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Nava | 2017 | 29.7 |
| 2 | Marwin Gonzalez | 2017 | 29.5 |
| 3 | Hanley Ramirez | 2014 | 29.3 |
| 4 | Odubel Herrera | 2017 | 29.3 |
| 5 | Carlos Pena | 2012 | 29.0 |
| 6 | Robinson Cano | 2017 | 28.9 |
| 7 | Carlos Pena | 2011 | 28.8 |
| 8 | Troy Tulowitzki | 2014 | 28.7 |
| 9 | Jorge Alfaro | 2017 | 28.7 |
| 10 | Mark Canha | 2017 | 28.7 |
| 11 | Hanley Ramirez | 2017 | 28.6 |
| 12 | Luke Scott | 2012 | 28.5 |
| 13 | Danny Espinosa | 2017 | 28.5 |
| 14 | Troy Tulowitzki | 2013 | 28.4 |
| 15 | Robinson Cano | 2013 | 28.4 |
| 16 | Logan Morrison | 2017 | 28.4 |
| 17 | Carlos Pena | 2010 | 28.4 |
| 18 | Carlos Pena | 2013 | 28.4 |
| 19 | Troy Tulowitzki | 2012 | 28.2 |
| 20 | Conor Gillaspie | 2016 | 28.2 |
| 21 | Danny Espinosa | 2016 | 28.2 |
| 22 | Alex Avila | 2017 | 28.1 |
| 23 | Alex Avila | 2016 | 28.0 |
| 24 | Brandon Phillips | 2013 | 28.0 |
| 25 | Travis Hafner | 2013 | 28.0 |
| 26 | Corey Dickerson | 2014 | 27.9 |
| 27 | Reed Johnson | 2011 | 27.9 |
| 28 | Kelly Shoppach | 2013 | 27.9 |
| 29 | Corey Dickerson | 2017 | 27.8 |
| 30 | Mitch Moreland | 2017 | 27.8 |
| 31 | Kole Calhoun | 2017 | 27.8 |
| 32 | Danny Espinosa | 2014 | 27.8 |
| 33 | Bryce Harper | 2017 | 27.7 |
| 34 | Ryan Braun | 2017 | 27.7 |
| 35 | Jett Bandy | 2017 | 27.7 |
| 36 | Carlos Pena | 2008 | 27.6 |
| 37 | Gerardo Parra | 2017 | 27.6 |
| 38 | Brandon Phillips | 2012 | 27.6 |
| 39 | Alex Avila | 2014 | 27.6 |
| 40 | Carlos Pena | 2009 | 27.5 |
| 41 | Avisail Garcia | 2017 | 27.5 |
| 42 | Martin Maldonado | 2017 | 27.5 |
| 43 | Victor Martinez | 2014 | 27.4 |
| 44 | Kurt Suzuki | 2017 | 27.4 |
| 45 | Hanley Ramirez | 2012 | 27.4 |
| 46 | Kelly Shoppach | 2012 | 27.4 |
| 47 | Victor Martinez | 2017 | 27.4 |
| 48 | Yasiel Puig | 2014 | 27.3 |
| 49 | Gary Sanchez | 2017 | 27.3 |
| 50 | Hanley Ramirez | 2013 | 27.2 |
While ratings and revenues are not hurting, in order to keep the next generation of fans engaged and interested in the sport, it is probably prudent for MLB to be proactive in getting out in front of the pace issues. Indeed, MLB might not even need a clock, it just might need to keep its batters — like Nava and Gonzalez — in the box.
What baseball could really do to pick up the pace is simply enforce a rule that already exists.
A Cleveland native, FanGraphs writer Travis Sawchik is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Big Data Baseball. He also contributes to The Athletic Cleveland, and has written for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, among other outlets. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Sawchik.
Daniel Nava and Josh Beckett were teammates on the 2010 Red Sox team. That’s all you need to know.
And Nava had only 188 PAs that year
Which took as much time as somebody else’s 500 PAs.
Anyhow, Beckett also only had 21 starts, so no problem at all!
Failure to enforce these rules also might end up giving an advantage to veterans over young players for the next decade or so. This sequence is a good example. Last year was Sims’s first in the majors. He came up through the minors pitching with a clock. Nava came up in 2010. He’s lived his whole life extending his time between pitches as long as he likes.
It’s hard to know exactly how much timing matters, but every player sure seems to think it’s a big deal.
I can’t be the only person who saw the headline and cover page picture and thought the “rain delay” was due to him clearing his nose repeatedly during his plate appearances.
Tommy LaStella does it too. I wish he’d stop.
I think the list is giving us the solution on how to fix Tulo at the plate. Shaving 3 seconds off his pace has disastrously affected him since coming to Toronto. Maybe do a second lap of tightening the batting gloves.
Here is my simple solution to batters not following Rule 6.02 (d). If the pitcher is ready, the umpire should point to the pitcher and get into position, thus allowing play to continue. After taking a couple of strikes down the middle because they are out of the box, hitters will quickly adapt. The umpire can warn both benches before the game of his intent to call the game this way and also warn the hitter before he points.
I would suggest a hard pitch clock visible to both pitcher and catcher/hitter, and the pitcher allowed to deliver with 5 seconds left, regardless of whether hitter is ready. Umpire can stop pitch clock for unusual happenings.
No pitch clock. No clocks in baseball. Enforce existing rules and add a few more like limiting catcher visits to the mound. If you forgot the damned signs, you deserve to get hit.
Make a video edit of the longest 50 strolls and clamp Manfred’s eyelids open.
I remember Nava hitting a grandslam in his first AB. First pitch. Things went dowhill from there. Slowly at first, and the faster they went downhill the slower he was to step in the box
Yes, it was so disappointing that he couldn’t hit a grand slam every pitch he saw.
Or alternatively: he was an undrafted non-prospect who has played nearly 600 games and was a regular on a World Series winner. You know how many ballplayers would kill for a ‘downhill’ like that?
One of Farrell’s miracles in ’13. He somehow massaged Nava’s playing time to get impossible results. Also Gomes, but Nava hit .300 with JF picking his spots.
I’d like to see pitch times by Umpire. Perhaps Joe West is happy to take the Canó ‘veteran breather’ as well.
Tennis has for a long time had a rule that a returner must play at the server’s pace. There is also a maximum time allowed between points. The rule wasn’t enforced and time between points became exceedingly long a few years ago. They started issuing warnings, faults, and point deductions for violating the rules and it seemed to fix the problem rather quickly.
If it comes down to it baseball can do something similar. First of all, allow the catcher and pitcher some method of choosing a pitch other than hand signals. Then when the batter is waiting for the pitch to be delivered the pitcher and catcher already should have decided what pitch will be thrown. Make the batter play at the pitcher’s pace (with some sort of minimum time between pitches, unless both are ready faster). The pitcher can easily indicate when he is ready to pitch and the batter would have just a few moments to be ready. A batter could call time sometimes (something in the eye, etc.), but if a batter does it often it should be ignored or perhaps given, but with a warning; after the warning it could be ignored. If the pitcher is tending to deliver the ball over the time limit, and the batter is playing at the pitcher’s pace, then a warning should be given, followed by assessments of balls to the count. If a batter is not playing at the pitcher’s pace then he should be given a warning, followed by assessments of strikes to the count.
Do not listen to the players’ gripes about how they’ve been doing it such and such a way for so long. Enforce the rule fairly and equally for everyone and the players will adjust. I don’t doubt that the complainers will be truthfully worried about how the disruption of their routine will affect them. But the situation is a behavioral one and the penalty of balls or strikes assessed will allow the players’ routines to change quite easily within the new constraints. If any player really can’t adjust, should it be considered wrong that he’s disadvantaged under new rules that are to the benefit of the sport and the fans, and hence the salaries of all the players? Are the players not professionals – indeed the very cream of the crop of professionals – who should reasonably be expected to be able to handle such professional obligations?
Taking ten minutes off the game doesn’t change the appeal to suddenly get young people imo.
It surely does for some unknown number of them. Whether it’s five people or 50,000 is what we are guessing about.
What if saving ten minutes in a way that doesn’t materially affect the game gets us another 10,000 fans a few years down the line? Isn’t that worth it?
My biggest problem isn’t pace, it’s length. As a mid-30s professional, I can’t devote 3 1/2 hours to a game multiple times per night. So I end up watching parts of lots of regular season games, but very few full games.
If they rarely went over 3 hours, maybe I could watch an extra 5 or 10 complete games. If it were 2 1/2, I’d probably watch an extra 20.
Does my extra watching “save” baseball? Of course not. But if it makes millions watch more games, that can’t be a bad thing.
I actually think batters shouldn’t even be able to take one foot out of the box on an unstruck/unswung pitch. If you watch older games, batters didn’t look for new signs after every pitch and were basically ready to go by the time the ball got back to the pitcher.
and no mention, tip of the hat, tribute to the Original Human Rain delay, Mike Hargrove. Somewhere, someone needs to run him thru these to see where he stands… rather, to see how these imposters stand compared to him.
typo corrected: While ratings and revenues are not hurting, in order to keep the next generation of fans engaged and interested in the sport, it is probably prudent for MLB to coax its most recognizable brand and face of the sport, Kelly Shoppach, out of retirement and back in front of the cameras where he belongs.