Why Royals spring training games, including Greinke’s Monday, have been speedy affairs
Zack Greinke got onto the mound for the first time in this edition of spring training Monday, pitching two innings in the Royals’ 10-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Surprise Stadium.
Greinke pitched the opening two innings. He retired the Brewers in short order in the first, recording a strikeout. He gave up his only hit in the second, a slow roller toward third base.
Greinke is entering his 20th season in the majors and his ninth with the Royals. He also pitched in two seasons for the Brewers, starting in 2011; he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in 2012. Greinke played 49 games in Milwaukee, compiling a 25-9 record and a 3.67 ERA.
He was 4-9 with a 3.68 ERA in his return to the Royals last season, and signed a second one-year contract with KC this offseason.
Monday’s Cactus League game gave Greinke his first experience with baseball’s new pitch timer, and he expressed mixed feelings about it afterward.
“I think it will be more entertaining to watch, but it might be a little tough for guys the first year,” he said. “I might have trouble in longer innings. If there’s 25- or 30-pitch inning (and then) a quick inning and I have to go back out, I think there might be some issues with recovery.”
After Greinke’s two innings on Monday, the Royals started scoring. They led the Brewers 4-0 after four, but Mike Brosseau’s two-run home run evened the score. From there, Milwaukee kept its foot on the gas, scoring six more runs over the final two innings.
At 2 hours, 44 minutes, Monday’s game was the longest the Royals have played so far this spring. But it was notably shorter than the average Royals game last season, which lasted 3 hours, 3 minutes.
The increased pace of play is due in part to the newly introduced pitch timer, but also Major League Baseball’s newly imposed limits on visits to the mound and pick-off attempts.
MLB spring training games played through Sunday have been markedly shorter across both the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues. The average duration of game-time this spring is 2 hours, 38 minutes, whereas games last season averaged 3 hours, 6 minutes.
Of 35 spring training games played thus far, just six have lasted longer than 3 hours.
Interestingly, the Royals were among the fastest-playing teams in the majors last season. Their games averaged 3 hours, 3 minutes, fourth fastest in baseball. The Royals’ four games this spring have averaged 2 hours, 33 minutes, with Monday’s the longest at 2 hours, 44 minutes.
