When Giovanny Gallegos was on the mound last season, he wasn't the only one who didn't need to be in much of a hurry.
The St. Louis Cardinals reliever was the slowest-working pitcher in Major League Baseball last season, taking nearly 31 seconds between pitches when at least one runner was on base. Gallegos' lack of urgency worked well for bettors with a penchant for constant action, since they had plenty of time to wager on what the right-hander's next pitch would produce.
Like other big league hurlers, Gallegos had all winter and six weeks of spring training to get used to MLB's new pitch clock, which limits pitchers to 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on. Pitchers who blow through their allotted time are penalized with an automatic ball. Hitters who dawdle outside the batter's box while the clock ticks under eight seconds get a strike called on them.
Gallegos and other players aren't the only ones who will need to make some adjustments to hurry things up this season, which gets underway Thursday. For aficionados of one of sports betting's fastest-growing market segments, microbetting, the pitch clock will have a significant impact in 2023.