Ortiz not too keen on pace-of-play rules

David Ortiz has a deliberate routine at the plate.

He sounded prepared to pay for it.

"I might run out of money," Ortiz said during a colorful rant Wednesday about the new pace-of-play rule requiring hitters to keep at least one foot in the batter's box in some instances.

Ortiz said he felt this provision, announced last week, unfairly targeted hitters. One of the more radical alterations discussed, a limit on the number of seconds between pitches, was not implemented.

"I'm not going to change my game," the Boston designated hitter said. "I don't care what they say."

Major League Baseball can dock him, starting May 1, up to $500 per offense. Penalties were limited to warnings and fines, rather than allowing umpires to call strikes.

Another part of the initiative agreed to by MLB and the players' association will be the installation of clocks in stadiums to limit the length of pitching changes and between-innings breaks. Managers, too, are no longer required to leave the dugout to request video reviews.

"So after the pitch, you've got to stay in the box, basically?" he said, incredulously.

Yes, with one foot, unless there has just been a foul ball, wild pitch or other specified reason.

"When you come out of the box, you're thinking about what a guy's trying to do," he said. "This is not like we go to the plate with an empty mind. No, no, no."

Ortiz blamed pitchers for wasting more time than hitters.

"How about the guy on the mound who goes like this for three hours?" he said, shaking his head back and forth to mimic the act of shaking off a sign.

A former All-Star first baseman, Clark said extreme methods aren't feasible at the sport's highest level.

The AFL experiment included a 20-second clock between pitches, a limitation of pitcher's mound conferences involving catchers and managers, and no-pitch intentional walks.

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