A’s, Giants reaction to new pace-of-play rules not all favorable

Kendall Graveman had a simple response to baseball’s new pace-of-play rules that were announced Monday.

“I think what it boils down to is, we need to throw more strikes,” the A’s pitcher said from the team’s training camp in Mesa, Ariz. “You look at the Mark Buehrles and Greg Madduxes of the world, they threw some of the quickest games you’d ever imagine, and the reason is they threw a lot of strikes.”

As part of the changes, mound visits will be limited to six over nine innings, and the time allotted for pitching changes and inning breaks will be reduced.