SPRINGDALE -- It looks like Northwest Arkansas Naturals games in Arvest Ballpark this season may be a bit shorter.
Pace of play was a point of conversation at Major League Baseball owners meetings, and reports on MiLB.com indicate a 20-second pitch clock will be implemented at the Triple-A and Double-A level this season. Northwest Arkansas is the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.
A pitch clock was used in the Arizona Fall League in 2014, and a violation of the proposed new rule would result in a strike or ball being awarded to the batter.
Vance Wilson was one of the speakers at the second Northwest Arkansas Hot Stove Luncheon with the Springdale Rotary Club on Monday, and the Naturals manager is familiar with the pitch clock after coaching in the AFL last fall.
"I'm glad I had the opportunity in the Arizona Fall League when they did all that," Wilson said. "Anything the Major League teams want to do, they will put it on us first. I think what they will find is that the pace of the game will quicken on things other than the pitch clock. If it comes to that and you get to the ninth inning, you are changing the strategy of the game."
Wilson said learning to play with a pitch clock will be an easy transition.
"It's not that big of a deal," Wilson said. "I just think if they keep the batter in the box, the pitcher on the mound, it kept the pace quicker in the fall league."
Wilson will head out to the Kansas City spring training facility in about a month, and he said the Royals' postseason success in 2014 will have a positive impact throughout the organization.
"For what we do, we develop, we develop, and until the Big League team wins, it's hard to get all your Minor League players to see what you are working for," Wilson said. "I think it will change the culture of our organization. You can't change the culture until the Big League team wins, and that was the last thing to come in (Royals general manager) Dayton Moore's plan. It is exciting, and it changes how you look at things."
Northwest Arkansas will kick off its eighth season in Springdale with the home opener on April 16 and Naturals general manager Justin Cole said the excitement from Kansas City winning the American League Championship has not waned.
"It was awesome, especially since the key contributors played for us, too," Cole said. "They led the charge. It was heart-breaking how it ended, but it has built good momentum. This is also the five-year anniversary of us winning the Texas League Championship, and we had players like Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer on that team. Salvador Perez played the next year.
"We can present these players and say, 'Look what these guys are doing on the field now.' In two, three years, we can maybe say that about the players that will be here this year."
Paul Nielsen can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @NWAPaul.
Sports on 01/20/2015