Don’t rush our athletes. With the presence of the show lights and the pitch clock ticking down every second, our favorite players feel stressed out. Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra, once said: “Baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical.” What the catcher meant by this was that playing well in baseball is all about your mind, and if your mind is working against you, you can’t play your best.
As the pitcher takes the mound, the second they plant their feet, the pitch clock starts. The pitch clock forces an athlete to get set, calm their nerves, and deliver a pitch. This routine goes on for the entire game. Multiple athletes go through this motion, a cycle of stress, nerves, and delivery in under twenty seconds, over 100 times, a pitcher can never be calm. A pitcher can’t perform under this immense pressure caused by such a short-timer. The time should at least be extended by ten seconds giving a pitcher more time to catch their breath. Even the people who put these rules in place couldn’t perform using them, so why should our athletes suffer the dread? I believe that an increase in the time allowed is beneficial to their ability and mental anguish. An athlete shouldn’t be punished for taking time to recover. The commissioners and high-ups in the MLB don’t understand the impact it has on players all because they want to increase viewership. Money isn’t worth the mental anguish of so many talented and hardworking athletes.
This idea of letting our athletes take their time is not just about the MLB, it has to do with any athlete. People expect athletes to be able to do it all, whether it be running really fast, or being a straight-A student, athletes have high expectations. Sometimes, it’s hard for athletes to get an assignment in on time or a study session done before midnight. This doesn’t even just apply to athletes, it can also apply to anybody. People need their rest time or even just a few extra seconds per moment. I know sometimes I wish I had an extra minute or an extra hour to do something but it doesn’t always happen. Although it’s not exactly what I want, it’s hard to find a substitute because time doesn’t just come out of nowhere there are only 24 hours in a day, there are only 60 minutes in an hour, there are only 60 seconds in a minute and no more no less. But just because there isn’t enough time to do everything in one day or to finish a baseball game under
two hours, nobody should spend hours out of their day stressing and dreading what’s to come in either the next moment or the next hours.
Sincerely,
A Teen on a Time-Crunch
