Royals baseball is back: What looks different this year?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Kansas City Royals begin their Spring Training schedule on Friday with a game against the Texas Rangers at 2:05 p.m. CT. But as fans begin to watch Major League Baseball again this season, the sport will look and be played a little differently.

Here are three of the significant changes for fans to get used to:

1. Pitch clocks

In an effort to speed up the pace of play, the MLB is implementing a pitch timer. When the bases are empty there will be 15 seconds on the timer and with a runner or runners on base there will be 20 seconds. Each batter gets one timeout to use per plate appearances and the batter must be in the batter’s box with eight seconds left.

Pitchers will be allowed two disengagements (pickoff attempts or step-offs) per batter, with violations resulting in a balk.

After testing these rule changes in the minor leagues during recent seasons, MLB said limiting pickoff attempts led to a 26 percent increase in stolen base attempts. The pitch timer was credited with helping reduce game length by 25 minutes in the minor leagues during the 2022 season.

FILE - A pitch clock is deployed to restrict pitcher preparation times during a minor league... — FILE - A pitch clock is deployed to restrict pitcher preparation times during a minor league baseball game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and Greensboro Grasshoppers, July 13, 2022, in the Coney Island neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York. Major League Baseball is set to announce a pitch clock and limits on defensive shifts next season in an effort to shorten games and increase offense. The sport’s 11-man competition committee is set to adopt the rules changes Friday, Sept. 9.(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

2. Shift rules

Recent baseball seasons have been marred by lower batting averages and defenses with extreme shifts to limit hitters that predominantly pull the ball. During the 2023 season, MLB is requiring teams to position two infielders on either side of second base when a pitch is released. To eliminate an infielder planting themself in shallow right field, all four infielders are now required to have both feet within the infield when the pitcher is on the rubber.

MLB said shift restrictions in the minor leagues increased batting average and decreased strikeouts while giving players more opportunities to showcase their athleticism.

3. Bigger bases

While the first two changes were mainly implemented to change the strategy and visuals of the game, the third is mainly for player safety. MLB is making the bases larger, increasing first, second and third base from 15 inches square to 18″. The bigger bases make home to first and home to third 3 inches shorter, while reducing first to second and second to third base by 4.5″.

MLB said bigger bases reduced injury events near the bases by more than 13 percent in the minor leagues during the 2022 season.