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Pitch clock and ABS system among key changes for KBO in 2025

Published: 05 Dec. 2024, 12:53

The Kia Tigers' James Naile pitches during a practice game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on March 14. [NEWS1]

The KBO on Wednesday announced a series of rule changes for the 2025 season, including ones governing the pitch clock and the automated ball-strike (ABS) system.

The KBO said the pitch clock will be put in place starting in the 2025 regular season, a year after the proposed implementation of the timer.

Pitchers will have to start their delivery within 20 seconds with the bases empty, and 25 seconds with runners on. MLB, which introduced the pitch clock in 2023, gives pitchers 15 seconds to begin their delivery with nobody on, and 18 seconds with runners aboard.

The KBO sought to put the clock in play this year but was met with opposition from teams. The league still kept track of pitch clock violations but did not impose any penalties.

Starting in the new year, there will be a 33-second limit between trips to the plate for batters, who will have only two timeouts per plate appearance.

An umpire works a game with the pitch clock and the automated ball-strike system in operation at Masan Stadium in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Feb. 19. [YONHAP]

These changes were adopted during the executive committee meeting, involving general managers of the league's 10 clubs, on Tuesday.

The KBO will not have a limit on the number of disengagements for pitchers, a departure from MLB, where pitchers can step off the rubber or make a pickoff attempt only twice per plate appearance to rest the pitch clock.

"The goal of the pitch clock is not to penalize pitchers, but to reduce unnecessary time for fans," the KBO said in a statement. "With the pitch clock being used at international tournaments, we also wanted to enhance our international competitiveness."

The strike zone under the ABS, which was introduced in 2024, will be readjusted in 2025. This year, the top of the ABS strike zone was set at 56.35 percent of a hitter's height, and the bottom was at 27.64 percent. For 2025, those numbers will be 55.75 percent at the top and 27.04 percent at the bottom, meaning the zone will be lowered as a whole without changes to the size.

Also in 2025, the KBO will test a check swing challenge system in the minor league, the Futures League, with the possibility that it could be implemented in the big league in 2026.

The league office said it began installing cameras at a few stadiums beginning in August to see how feasible it would be to adopt the challenge system, which was also tested in the Arizona Fall League in the United States earlier this year. Under the system, teams were able to challenge an on-field check swing call to see if the head of the bat had crossed a threshold from home plate.

The KBO also adjusted the contentious "three-foot rule" and widened the runner's lane, following the change implemented by MLB this year.

Previously, a batter had to run the last half of the distance between home plate and first base between the foul line and a three-foot line drawn on the right side of the dirt. Under the rule change, instead of being forced to be in foul territory, the runner will be deemed in compliance with the rule as long as he keeps both feet on the dirt between home plate and first base.

These rules will be finalized following a meeting of the league's rules committee at a later date.

Yonhap