Jose Caballero's pitch clock antics finally have umpires fighting back

MLB's goal with implementing the pitch clock was to improve the pace of play, and for the most part, it's been a rousing success. Some players like to use the pitch clock to their advantage, though, and Jose Caballero is one of them. His antics sparked a benches-clearing brawl in Monday's game between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates, and in Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader between the two clubs, home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott made sure to take over before another potential issue was to emerge.

The rule of the pitch clock states that the hitter must fully engage with the pitcher when there're eight seconds left on the pitch clock and that pitchers cannot come set until the batter is engaged. This means the hitter must be ready to hit when there're eight seconds or more on the clock and that the pitcher can't pitch until the batter is ready. Caballero likes to wait until the last possible moment to engage the pitcher, and that's ruffled some feathers. It clearly rubbed Wolcott the wrong way. Whether it should is another question entirely.

Jose Caballero shouldn't be punished for gamesmanship

Is what Caballero is doing annoying? Absolutely. Waiting as long as he does to engage the pitcher gives the pitcher less time to come set and deliver the pitch. It can also throw a pitcher off his rhythm. Not to mention, it impacts the pace of play. Should any of those things concern Caballero, though?

Caballero is doing nothing more than some gamesmanship here. The rule states that the hitter must engage with no less than eight seconds left, and that's what he does. Every single time. Again, it might be annoying, but he's following the rules. Several pitchers are known to hold onto the ball until the very last second for no reason other than to mess with the hitter. Why is that acceptable, but what Caballero is doing not?

MLB must make rules clear amid Jose Caballero controversy

In the clip above, Caballero did nothing wrong by the book. He was looking at the pitcher and was ready to hit with exactly eight seconds left on the pitch clock. The pitcher, Carmen Mlodzinski, was set and ready to pitch before Wolcott called a timeout to hand Caballero a pitch clock violation despite him technically being ready with eight seconds left.

This raises the question of whether MLB made a rule change. Wolcott didn't argue the fact that Caballero was ready to hit when he had to, but he didn't like Caballero stalling until the last second to be ready. If such a thing is illegal, the league ought to let everybody know, as Caballero clearly had no idea.

Again, a player shouldn't be penalized for doing something annoying but legal. If Caballero's controversial routine is illegal in some way, that must be clearly communicated. The umpire saying "they called us before the game," much to the surprise of Yankees manager Aaron Boone, in that same clip above, suggests that there's an unknown change to this rule that must be clarified.

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