Twenty-year MLB veteran Miguel Cabrera explains his pitch clock violation in Spring Training game: "I’m getting old"
Baseball's new pace of play rules are going to take a while for future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera to get used to after 20 years in the big leagues.
Cabrera, playing in his 21st and final spring training, began his second at-bat Wednesday for the Detroit Tigers against the Pittsburgh Pirates with an automatic strike after he took too long to get into the batter's box.
Under the guidelines of MLB's new pitch clock rules, a batter must be in the box and ready to receive the pitch with no less than eight seconds remaining on the clock.
Miguel Cabrera: “I’m getting old.” twitter.com/beckjason/stat…
Miguel Cabrera, often leisurely throughout his career when making the walk from the dugout to the batter's box, explained the violation quite simply to reporters:
"I'm getting old."
Cabrera, who is on the cusp of turning 40 years old as he prepares for his 21st big league season, now has 30 seconds to emerge from the dugout and be prepared to swing at the beginning of his turn at the plate. In this case, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that his superstar slugger "gets a pass":
"He told me he forgot. The music was going, and the crowd these first few days have really celebrated him when he’s come up to bat. I think he looked down and never looked up and didn’t check the timer."
Several of MLB's super sluggers have reportedly had difficulties being ready to go in the new timeframe. San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado, who recorded the first pitch clock violation by a major league hitter in league history last week, said that he is likely to rack up several violations this season, telling the New York Times:
"That time goes by fast."
In Miguel Cabrera's case, Hinch and the Tigers may not mind the occasional automatic strike call as the two-time MVP enjoys his final major-league campaign. Especially if he continues to hit 413-foot doubles, as he did in his first at-bat of the game against the Pirates.
Miguel Cabrera coming to the close of a stellar career
Miguel Cabrera, who came to the Tigers in what proved to be a massively-lopsided trade with the Miami Marlins before the 2008 season, has put together a big league resume that has him almost certainly destined for a Hall of Fame nod in his first year of eligibility when the time comes.
In 20 seasons, Cabrera still carries a .308 batting average – in spite of not hitting over .300 since 2016. He has 507 home runs and 1,847 RBIs heading into his final trip around the majors.